Grandchildren Mia, Ana, Dax, and Zoe wish all a Happy St Patricks Day.
Weekly Quote
“Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many.” —Mark Twain
An Old Pen Shop Is Mightier Than the Death of Cursive March 15, 2023
I share with you this Blog posted by Jack Limpert, long-time Editor of the Washington Post. Jack’s Blog, About Editing and Writing, can be found @ https://jacklimpert.com
This writer loves Pens also. A Sharpie S-Gel 0.7 is my go-to. Like John Wayne back in the day. I always carry. “If it’s not written down, it never happened.”
From a Washington Post story by Tara Bahrampour headlined “An old pen shop proves mightier than the pandemic and the death of cursive”:
The enormous patina-green fountain pen juts over the sidewalk on F Street, two blocks from the White House, its gold nib pointing down at the front doors like a command.
“Fahrney’s Pens,” the sign in calligraphy reads. Inside, the narrow space with 28-foot ceilings is a cathedral to its acolytes, its objects of worship gleaming under glass counters. Ball or fountain. Plastic or rose gold. Steel or acrylic resin, redwood or ebony, matte or shiny.
“Allow me to dip it,” store manager Phuntsok Namgyal says softly. He bathes a nib in a bottle of blue-black ink and hands a fountain pen to a customer, who dashes off his signature.
“Perfect,” the customer says. “It makes you want to write more.”
In its 94 years, Fahrney’s has outlasted the advent of mass-produced ballpoints, the rise of email and text messages, and a pandemic that decimated newer downtown businesses all around it. Its staying power can be attributed to a base of loyal old customers, along with a new generation raised on the digital but enchanted by the mechanical.
But the future of a shop dedicated to luxury pens will depend on more people wanting to write more. Some parts of the country have become pen-shop deserts, said Jonathan Weinberg, an artist and curator of the Maurice Sendak Foundation in Ridgefield, Conn., a state where he knows of no pen shops. “It’s a dying breed.”
One reason for Fahrney’s resilience may be its location.
“There’s just so many potential buyers, between senior government employees, law firms, lobbyists, accountants” in Washington, D.C., said David Baker, executive director of the Writing Instrument Manufacturers Association. “There is a significant group of consumers that like to hold a fine writing instrument in their hand.”
Susan Ebner, 67, a lawyer from Potomac, Md., has been coming to Fahrney’s since the 1980s; on a visit last week, she reeled off the names of pens she had bought there and the year she had bought each one. Solomon Dennis, 79, of the District came in for refills.
“I was dealing with this shop when they were at the Willard,” he said, referring to the storied hotel. Fahrney’s moved to its current spot around the turn of the 21st century.
Dennis, leaning on a copper-colored walking stick, recalled the first pen he bought at Fahrney’s, in 1974: a Montblanc Diplomat. “It was a hundred and fifty dollars then; I think it’s a thousand and fifty now,” he said. When he lost it, he cried for a week.
Pens at Fahrney’s range from $20 to nearly $5,000 and from themes like Harry Potter to King Tut. Some have historical connections, like the Fisher Apollo, a ballpoint pen that traveled to the moon and contains gas that allows it to work underwater, upside down, in freezing temperatures and at zero gravity. A National Zoo pen features pandas.
Once, Fahrney’s sold a $130,000 pen “completely covered in diamonds,” store owner Chris Sullivan said.
Robert Collie, 58, of Vienna, Va., inherited a Parker 51 fountain pen from his father, who died when he was 8. “Three years ago, my mom says, ‘Oh, I forgot I had this; it was your dad’s,’” he said. Last week, Collie came to the shop to buy a similar one for his son, who was turning 25.
“I’m thinking maybe a fountain pen with his name engraved on it,” Collie said.
Choosing a pen is personal. How do you tend to hold it? Is your lettering large and loopy? Do you close your L’s? Do you prefer the feel of a light pen or a heavy one? Flashy or subtle? Fine tip or broad?
“It shows their individuality,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan’s parents bought the store in 1972 from founder Earl Fahrney. Sullivan, 62, worked in the shop growing up and now co-owns it with his sister; his 83-year-old mother is still working, too, in the warehouse in Upper Marlboro. (“I can’t get her to stop,” he said.)
Fahrney used to tell of how the store once supplied the White House, Sullivan recounted, aides “running down the street, knocking on his door after the shop closed.”
Nowadays, in-person purchases account for just 15 percent of sales; the rest is online and catalogue, he said. Still, the pandemic hit the shop hard. Its doors closed for three months, and business still hasn’t returned to what it was. “Look across the street,” Sullivan said, gesturing at papered-over shop windows. “It’s horrible.”
Worse were the lives lost during covid: Chuck Edwards, who repaired pens at Fahrney’s for three and a half decades; Elizabeth Spinks-Bunn, who taught calligraphy and cursive classes; and Sullivan’s father, Jon. The shop now displays Edwards’s neatly folded navy-blue work uniform, “The Pen Doctor” embroidered on its front, in a shadow box by his repair bench.
The store still does repairs, though it is getting harder to find parts. It also sells stationery, journals, inks and calligraphy books, a small bulwark against the drift of a country that long ago dropped handwriting classes from school curriculums.
And yet the generation that didn’t learn cursive has somehow fallen for fountain pens — and their interest is helping drive demand. The average age of customers at Fahrney’s is 60, but it is dropping, Sullivan said.
“There’s a lot of young buyers — ‘young’ being people in their 30s — paying $1,200 for a pen,” said Baker, the association director. “From what I hear, during covid, a lot of collectibles and fine items became significant as people had time to browse and look at these things.”
Trends like urban sketching and journaling have helped spur interest in fountain pens in particular, said Weinberg, who owns around 250 of them. “With a ballpoint pen, your hand tends to get a little cramped,” he said. “Your hand kind of flies across the page with a fountain pen.”
Like many old-school technologies, they do have drawbacks: the ink staining your hands when you fill them, the risk of leaks on planes. But for young people, who are embracing typewriters and vinyl, the glitches are part of the charm.
“Just as with records, you had all the scratches and skipping,” Weinberg said. “Young people don’t have that history, so they tend to romanticize.”
And so it was last week that a gaggle of young people, members of the concert choir at Otterbein University in central Ohio, skidded to a stop below the giant pen out front, mouths agape.
“CONNOR!”
“A pen shop!”
Connor Rosenberger, a 19-year-old music major with flowing blond hair, had been searching for a fountain pen in every town the choir had visited on its tour. He said he takes notes in class by hand, because “psychology studies show you retain the information better,” and journals “all the time.” But there are no pen shops where he lives.
“It’s like a candy store for me,” Rosenberger said, standing in the middle of Fahrney’s, as if unsure where to turn. “A very expensive candy store.”
For his choir mates, too. Teddy McIntyre, a 21-year-old redhead with a denim jacket and a mustache, said he writes actual letters to relatives. “It’s kind of like opening a present, instead of getting an email sent to you. And it gives me an excuse to use my wax seal,” he said. And Anna Kate Scott, 22, said she writes novels and short stories by pen “because I feel more like I’m in it, rather than separated from it by a screen.”
At the counter, Rosenberger pointed at pen after pen, and Namgyal took each one out for him to try.
“This is so exciting,” Scott said. “You have to tell your mom that you found a whole fountain pen store!”
Rosenberger hesitated. The pen he was eyeing, an orange and black Monteverde Regatta Sport, cost $90. “She doesn’t like my obsession,” he said. “She’s like, ‘You only need one.’”
Soon, he was on the phone with her.
“I’ve bought nothing,” he relayed. “I actually broke one of my friends’ bracelets, and she didn’t ask me to, but I bought her a new one … and I bought myself a new ring that was five bucks.”
His friends were playing with a four-foot approximation of a Shaeffer fountain pen. They posed for photos with it. McIntyre held it up like a bazooka.
Rosenberger got off the call with his mom.
“She said use your best judgment,” he said.
Tara Bahrampour, a Post staff writer based in Washington, D.C., writes about aging, generations and demography. She has also covered immigration and education and has reported from the Middle East and North Africa, and from the republic of Georgia.
And finally, some recent losses.
Six weeks ago we had eight hens of various descriptions providing us with eggs. Thanks to a local Red-Tailed Hawk, we are down to six. “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses …” Oops, that’s on the plaque at the base of the Statute of Liberty. Have you seen the price of Eggs lately?
I meant to send the below out on several mediums a few weeks ago. Business in my life obviously kept it in my draft file and it never was posted. Perhaps you may think the timing is poor, if so apologies are extended to you.Several years ago on a trip to Germany my son-in-law and I had the opportunity to visit the Dachau Concentration camp.
Dachau (/ˈdɑːxaʊ/)[3] was the first concentration camp built by Nazi Germany, opening on 22 March 1933. The camp was initially intended to intern Hitler’s political opponents which consisted of: communists, social democrats, and other dissidents.[4] It is located on the grounds of an abandoned munitions factory northeast of the medieval town of Dachau, about 16 km (10 mi) northwest of Munich in the state of Bavaria, in southern Germany.[5] After its opening by Heinrich Himmler, its purpose was enlarged to include forced labor, and, eventually, the imprisonment of Jews, Romani, German and Austrian criminals, and, finally, foreign nationals from countries that Germany occupied or invaded. The Dachau camp system grew to include nearly 100 sub-camps, which were mostly work camps or Arbeitskommandos, and were located throughout southern Germany and Austria.[6] The main camp was liberated by U.S. forces on 29 April 1945.
Prisoners lived in constant fear of brutal treatment and terror detention including standing cells, floggings, the so-called tree or pole hanging, and standing at attention for extremely long periods.[7] There were 32,000 documented deaths at the camp, and thousands that are undocumented.[8] Approximately 10,000 of the 30,000 prisoners were sick at the time of liberation.[9][10]
In the postwar years, the Dachau facility served to hold SS soldiers awaiting trial. After 1948, it held ethnic Germans who had been expelled from eastern Europe and were awaiting resettlement, and also was used for a time as a United States military base during the occupation. It was finally closed in 1960. (Reprinted from Wikipedia)
Now it is clear why the media hardly mentioned Pearl Harbor this year.When I was a kid, I couldn’t understand why Eisenhower was so popular. Maybe this will explain why General Eisenhower Warned Us. It is a matter of history that when the Supreme Commander of the Allied
Forces, General Dwight Eisenhower, found the victims of the death camps he ordered all possible photographs to be taken, and for the German people from surrounding villages to be ushered through the camps and even made to bury the dead. He did this because he said in words to this effect: ‘Get it all on record now – get the films – get the witnesses – because somewhere down the road of history some bastard will get up and say that this never happened.
This week, the UK debated whether to remove The Holocaust from it school curriculum because it ‘offends’ the Muslim population which claims it never occurred. It is not removed as yet. However, this is a frightening portent of the fear that is gripping the world and how easily each country is giving into it. It is now more than 70 years after the Second World War in Europe ended. This e-mail is being sent as a memorial chain, in memory of the, six million Jews, 20 million Russians, 10 million Christians, and 1,900 Catholic priests Who were ‘murdered, raped, burned, starved, beaten, experimented on and humiliated’ while many in the world looked the other way! Now, more than ever, with Iran, among others, claiming the Holocaust to be ‘a myth,’ it is imperative to make sure the world never forgets.
How many years will it be before the attack on the World Trade Center ‘NEVER HAPPENED’, because it offends some Muslims?Do not just delete this message; it will take only a minute to pass this along. Remember when all classrooms had an American flag in them? Do they even teach our children about the World Trade Center attacks in 1993 and 2001, or did it go the way of Pearl Harbor and Veterans Day? Don’t even mention Christmas or Hanukkah or prayers in school. Many schools no longer recite the Pledge of Allegiance and many children do not know the words to our National Anthem, or that we even have one!
On a more joyous note I wish you all a very Merry Christmas.
Just yesterday we were in the Piano room at daughter Kathryn’s house. Gathered about listening to Christmas music from the family Steinway were Granddaughter Rachael and husband Drew, Granddaughter Abigail, and husband Antwain and their daughter, one month old Alana Bea, our great, #5. Kathryn and husband Jeff, Mary Agnes and the Rooster, dogs, Libby and Phoebe and lurking around the corner, Cat Friday, were there also.. I’ve since renamed the Piano room the gathering room. Must get a picture out some day soon.
Earlier in the day the local fire department was out in force escorting Santa Clause about town. Alana was given the opportunity to tell Santa what was on her wish list, apparently she slept though the event. Here’s Alana with mom and dad.
Kathryn was playing Christmas music on the recently tuned piano. Several of us were enjoying a glass of wine, the atmosphere was festive and the setting was Grand. At one point Rachael turns to me and says, “Pop-Pop, I never got a shout out in a blog when I got married in August.” Yep, the Rooster had been remiss.
Well folks out there in reader land, Granddaughter Rachael was married to Andrew Rodgers on sixteen August of this year. The two young’ns had been dating for some time and the 16’th had been the anniversary of their first date. Rachael is an elementary school teacher, Drew served in the Navy Submarine Service for six years. He listened to Whales chatting while submerged at Davey Jones Locker Andrew still has his ups and downs, he now works for an elevator company.
A proud little tidbit concerning the wedding, yours truly served as the officiant for the ceremony and the event took place in our backyard with a flock of nine hens as witnesses. This was my third family wedding to have conducted and I have two more coming up next year. I’ll marry a nephew in February and my brother in June. These are proud moments all.
The Participants
L to R – The Rooster’s Mrs. Mary Agnes – Rachael the Bride – Sarah, Mother of the Bride
Andrew the Groom, Sarah, Rachael the Bride
Proud mothers, Michelle & Sarah
The Officiant
Don’t forget to check on the elderly.
So there you have it, Rachael is married, I’m off the Fecal Roster and one last thing. We found out recently that Rachael and Andrews family will increase in size in 2022. Congratulations to the two of you.
The days are getting longer. Yesterday, 06/22/21 it was 78F at 0500, today at the same time it was 56F, go figure. I checked the weather prediction map, NOAA’,s site, a prediction map showed all weather staying west of the Chesapeake Bay and generally speaking following a track North via I-95. Since we had a lunch date with Mary Agnes’ sister in-law at noon, outside dining was in order. On this day we would dine at Tall Tales Brewing Company in Parsonsburg, MD.
We met Barbara, entered, and were seated undercover on the fringe of outside. All the doors were open, and a delightful breeze was blowing. The windows are floor-to-ceiling fold back doors: ice tea, no sugar for me, A wine for my princess, and a Lager for Barb. We ordered Chicken Salads for the ladies and a Mahi Mahi Taco for me. Unfortunately, when our food arrived, so did the weather, in the form of Rain. Although we were fine as we were undercover, several other tables had to reposition back a bit.
All in all, it was an excellent get together, we caught up on the goings-on of both sides of the family. I call Barb’s side of the family, the Polish side. Barb is the Matriarch at this point in time for her side. She beats me in age by three months by the way. My wife, of Irish descent, is the Matriarch on her side of the family. So thus we have, the two sides as I identify them.
As far as weather predictions, they, NOAA in this case, blew it! Don’t you love the ten-day predictions you get from various WX sites or the five-day predictions? On this day, we couldn’t even get a 3-hour forecast that was worthy. So what the hell are they smoking in those weather shops?
Caroline Schweikert photo of Junes Strawberry Moon. This lady and her husband have been friends for over 30 years. She is a wonderful photographer and her work can be found on Facebook.
Granddaughter, USAF, Samantha, just dropped these 4 off at SEATAC and flew back home to the Netherlands. The kids will be with Fraternal grandparents in Oregon for a while and then meet the Maternal grandparents in Detroit, visit the Greats in Bay City and then head to Maryland. In Maryland they will be stay with Pappy & G and also visit Greats there. Pappy & G will get the Wee Ones back to the Netherland prior to the start of school.Thanks for the great view of Seattle and beyond Samantha.
This is what I’ve come to call a Sami-izem: You know your kid learned to speak outside of the US when she says “Mom look at that! It’s like 10 meters tall!”
Life remains good on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake Bay. God is good, and thanks to him, so are we. Our chickens continue to give us eggs. Greggory Peck is in Talon Hill. ( Remember Boot Hill?) Our Garden is growing nicely and were using a lot of fresh Parsley at the moment.
Grandson Tommy, TP for short, makes a final gesture prior to exiting the car for his start of the Journey at the United States Air Force Academy.
So, for this day, these photos and my writing I bid you all Ah plue tahr
Be safe, if you haven’t already, get a flu shot and make sure you check on the elderly.
I share with you a post from Facebook that was posted by my granddaughter.
Grand (Sam) & Great Granddaughters (Zoe)
I have had the honor of serving in the United States military for the past 13 years including my time at a service academy. I have had the privilege to create 4 lives while serving. I have been supported by my leadership and loved by my family. I am a proud military female who is motivated to continue serving to prove to the naysayers that it is the soldier.
Great Granddaughter Mia
“It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.
It is the soldier, not the lawyer, who has given us the right to a fair trial.
It is the soldier, who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag.”
We “began” our Spring Break adventure yesterday. Join us each day as we imagine what we would have been doing.
Day 1 & 2: Driving to Genoa, Italy
The kids have done amazing driving these 14hrs. They’ve barely fought and only whine when they’re hungry. We’ve driven through 3 countries so far. We’re about 3/4 of the way there and every minute brings more anticipation.
Day 1 & 2: Driving to Genoa, Italy
The kids have done amazing driving these 14hrs. They’ve barely fought and only whine when they’re hungry. We’ve driven through 3 countries so far. We’re about 3/4 of the way there and every minute brings more anticipation.
Day 3 of our would be Spring Break
We safely made it to Genoa yesterday and the kids continued to be amazing in the car. It’s almost as if the trip took seconds instead of hours. This morning we walked around the city and of course ate Gelato and ice cream for lunch (see picture).
We just boarded our cruise ship, found our room and got settled in.
Sorry for the little later post, we’ve been having a blast! Today was a day at sea. The kids loved the the kids club, we have a private lounge/tanning area, and I started reading a new book. Tonight was movie night on board and Dax and Zoe insisted on popcorn. They’re loving the never ending drinks and snacks. Mia and Ana opted for a little more swim time rather than a movie. Oh yeah, and the kids think its awesome they can live in their bathing suits. Thankfully it’s a gorgeous 70°.+2
Kids ClubTanning Area Pool Time/In our dreams.Movies and Popcorn
Day 5
Today we were in port. Tomorrow I’ll catch up on posting pictures and describing the day…super busy and now we’re all ready to crash.
Here are a few pictures for you to guess the town we explored today.
Day 5 & 6 recap
Day 5 was Barcelona. We enjoyed walking around the city and eating our way through it. Day 6 was Palma de Mallorca. Definitely a city I want to come back to without kiddos 🙂 we of course found a playground for the kids. Last night part of kids club was about astrology. The kids were taught about the planets and different constellations and then elected to sleep on the deck.
Little of Day 7.
Zoe was the first one up, like always and will probably be the one who is most upset to get off the ship in a couple days. There is food at her every beckon call. Today we do Marseilles.
Day 7…continued
Marseilles was gorgeous. We did two different excursions. One was a poetry reading and another was learning fishing techniques from an experienced local. Kids are loving a cruise and have already asked to go on another one. Tomorrow is our last day of the cruise and will be a day at sea.
Trip Complete
Back home they are, the trip complete, just how long will the playroom stay Neat?
THE END
Once again I must say thank you to our Grands and Greats in Brunssum, Netherlands for giving me fodder for my Blog, what wonderful imaginations. I would also like to say thank you USAF Captains Sam & Zed, for all your sacrifices for the USA. Go Navy, Beat Army! It’s a family thing.
Once again the Rooster is ever grateful for another family member making my Blogging easy. I share with you the most recent Blog of grandaughter,, Captain Samantha Berthiaume-Davies, USAF. Thanks Sammy.
20 years ago due to an airplane malfunction 20 Washington State Air
National Guardsmen lost their lives on Geilenkirchen Air Base.
I had great plans to write this post on Monday night. Then on
Tuesday I planned to write it, but from a very different angle. Today, I
finally have some time to sit down and try to do this post justice.
I was asked to help with the execution of the memorial service. This
being my first event of any scale I was on edge. 75 people had flown
from the US to honor their comrades and family members lost on Jan 13,
1999. There was a 20 minute ceremony and a lunch that I was responsible
for. Though the weather didn’t cooperate, the entire day went off
without a hitch.
I didn’t realize how much of myself I had invested into the event
until Tuesday morning. We forgot Ana’s book bag at the house (thanks to
Zed for running home to grab it), forgot my cell phone at home (a whole
day without a cell phone is hard), after my shower from the gym I
realized I hadn’t brought boot socks or an uniform shirt, oh and I left
my hat in my car so I got to do that walk of shame.
As I walked out the of gym in a smelly uniform shirt, with no hat on,
and ankle socks I saw the school bus pull up. At that moment I just
needed a hug from my girls. I got two amazing hugs before they headed
off to school with their pony tails wagging behind them and went back to
my car to figure out what had just happened.
Why was I in tears at 830am over such trivial things? It was then I
realized how much effort I had put into this event to ensure the family
and friends of ESSO 77 had a memorable time. For some of them this was
the first time they had ever been to GK and for others the first time
they had been back since their squadron mates had passed away.
It was also then that I remembered the importance of hugging those
you love and making sure they know how you feel. And finally, it was
when a new friend tapped on my window to ask if I was ok and gave me a
hug.
So to ESSO 77, thank you for your service to not just the nation, but
serving with NATO means you’ve provided service to the world.
As many of you know we have Grands and Greats. The Greats live in Brunssum, Netherlands with our granddaughter Samantha & husband Zed. Both the kids, as we still call them are USAFA grads and Captains in the USAF. Presently they are stationed at a NATO base in Geilenkirchen, Germany, which is part of the Allied Joint Forces Command, it lies at the Tri-border of Germany, The Netherlands and Belgium.
The Tri-border area.
Zed is a pilot and Sam is a support services officer.
This young couple have four (4) children, ages five (5) and under. Mia, Ana, Dax and, Zoe. Since we are the Greats from Maryland in their lives, they are of course, beautiful, smart and wonderful children. Some would say a grand bag of chips.
They woke up today, Sunday, 16 December, 2018 to snow. Samantha posted on FB the following outbursts from the kids.
Until this morning I always thought one of the best things was to
wake up to a snow scene. Now the best thing is to listen to my kids wake
up to a snow scene.
Mia- oh my goodness, guys you’re never going to believe this Ana – Oh my hay Dax – who brought the snow Zoe – woah Mia – this is so butiful Ana – I want to make a snow angel Dax – how did this get here Zoe – snow
The Kids back in October:
The father of Samantha is also a world traveler and is also in Europe at this moment. You know the man if you follow the Rooster regularly. “Where in the world is Jeff Berthiaume”? Well, he’s departed a recent stay in Sofia, Bulgaria and is now in Bucharest, Romania and has sent these photos along.
Jeff will hopefully return to the states later this week and get to enjoy the holidays at home. When he’s away I’m in charge of taking care of Attack Dog Lady Liberty. Like the military, she keeps things safe and secure. Not a K-9 you’d like to sneak up on in the dark, if you know what eye (dang, did it again) mean.
If you haven’t been out to the Roaring Springs Ranch, or really this part of Oregon, you need to find a way to make it out here. Each time we come out I am reminded of the beauty of it. This trip out was a little more relaxed than normal because I have no ties to anyone but my family right now. We have out-processed from Tinker and have yet to in-process to our temporary duty at Maxwell AFB.
We began this leg of our trip with a much needed nap. The kids played with all of PaPa and Grandmas toys while Zed and I enjoyed some sleep. After waking up we had a date with 11 bulls. After getting them loaded in a trailer we drove 3.5 hours and dropped them at a ranch who would be leasing them for the summer. Along the way we stopped at Dairy Queen (more popular than McDonald’s out there) for dinner and ice cream. You’ll see that ice cream is a common thread for this trip. Once dropping the bulls we headed back towards the ranch and spent the night in the apartment over the office in Burns. On top of running the ranch Stacy also runs a co-op of ranchers who make up Country Natural Beef. They supply beef to places like Whole Foods, Blue Apron, and Burgerville. The next day we woke early, picked up kid horses and finished the drive to the ranch.
The kids enjoyed riding horses, helping PaPa work cows (it’s AI season currently), and riding toys. Zed and I are storing our four wheelers at the ranch while we’re in Germany and they bought 2 little motorcycles for the kids. Mia mastered the one without training wheels while Ana claimed the one with the extra help. Zed taught the kids how to climb rocks (I missed the photo op). It was great to see him in his element and sharing that with the kids. While we were there the ranch was hosting an AI school. Those who take part in the school learn something new and Stacy gets a few more hands to help out. Ana also adopted a calf and it was her responsibility to feed it each day.
One of the most fun days was when we enjoyed a trip to Fields for burgers and shakes. The kids (Jonah and Dallen (brother #3) had made it out and joined us) climbed trees and played in the mud while we waited for our food. This is another most stop when you come to visit the ranch. We then headed out on four wheelers and motorcycles to enjoy the reservoir.
While there Zed found a nest, where two of the eggs were beginning to hatch. The kids insisted we stay until they were out, but we explained we couldn’t wait that long and had to go see Sadie.
On the drive back, 3/5 kiddos fell asleep and we met up with Wes (brother #2) and Sadie. That night the couples went into town and enjoyed a benefit dinner for the boys’ high school English teacher.
The final day on the ranch we took a Steen’s Mountain tour and truly enjoyed the south eastern Oregon landscape.
One of the many gorges along the Steen’s. There should be some snow still visible on the peaks, but it wasn’t a great snow year.
This looks out over the historic Riddle Ranch.
Mia and Ana attempting to throw rocks into Wild Horse Lake. The angle of the picture deceives the eyes. Ana’s right foot is hanging over a sheer face that drops a “couple” feet.
Behind Zed and me is the Alvord Desert.
We concluded the tour with a stop at the Frenchglen Mercantile for some ice cream. The ability to easily come to the ranch for a break is going to be missed while we’re in Germany. It will be an amazing treat to be welcomed back to.
They arrived on the 3’rd with all their stuff and were gone on the 8’th. Who you might ask, the “USAF Family Davies,” granddaughter and hubby, 4 great grandchildren and all the joy and happiness they bring on their visit.
They arrived in time to decorate a float and ride in the Allen, MD Fourth of July parade. They ate Grandmom (G) and Grandpop (Pappy) out of house and home. Lady Liberty of the Yellow Lab variety has been pulled, prodded, sent fetching, and loved for 5 continuous days. She has responded by eating all dropped food items well befor the 30 second rule could take hold. Weight Watchers has a new client.
They got to go on a boat ride, swim in Uncle Greg’s pool and G & Pappy’s blow up pool next to the fish pond and watch the frogs. They fished Miss Sue’s pond for the big one with Pappy and Abby.
Abby helps get the BIG ONE off the hook for Dax.
They were loved by all who came by to wish them safe journey as they head to Germany by way of Michigan and Alabama.
Once the school is completed it will be off on Big Bird to cross the pond to Germany. So, God Speed my children, Granny and G shall be there to greet you and spoil you and help get you settled. I’m sure you’ll have many visitations over the next few years, I plan to be one of those visiting.
Just a part of the Rooster’s Clan.
L to R – Pappy, Abby, Zed & Dax, Mia & G, Sam, Rooster & Wife, Ana & the All American Girl ZOE.
🙂 we of course found a playground for the kids. Last night part of kids club was about astrology. The kids were taught about the planets and different constellations and then elected to sleep on the deck.
They arrived on the 3’rd with all their stuff and were gone on the 8’th. Who you might ask, the “USAF Family Davies,” granddaughter and hubby, 4 great grandchildren and all the joy and happiness they bring on their visit.
As The Rooster Crows 