JUST ANOTHER COMPLAINT

       Well, my last post wasn't really a complaint. Just a little whining!

       Today I would like to register a formal complaint to those who hate seniors. 

       I consider myself to be very fortunate as a senior, in that I have very good health. That doesn't mean that I don't have some senior issues.

       In the last year I have noticed some vision problems.

       Yes, if you see an old guy on his hands and knees, trying to look at a price tag, that will be me! Yes, the price tag is just above my toes. I can back up to the other side of the aisle to get a better angle but that doesn't help. 

       Now you have to read price tags very carefully. So  sale price is large and in color. It's a super good price. But you have to see that to get the super price you have to buy two. Who wants two containers of Beef in a mug?

       The next problem is the price tag on the top shelf. The price tags automatically angle upward. So unless you're seven feet tall, all you see its the bottom of the price tag. While I'm at this one I feel sorry for shorter people who cannot reach anything on the top shelf. I have had to step on the bottom shelf to reach something on the top shelf. 

        After that, much of the information on the price tag is in very small printing. Shall I embarrass the Micro Manager and not only kneel on the floor but bring out my magnifying glass? 

      So while our grocery stores may have some things for the convenience of shoppers , they have some glaring challenges for people. 

     Now on the other hand, grocery stores have things slanted to their advantage. They don't want you to see that you have to buy two to get the low price. If you buy one they make a dump truck more money because the one price is much higher. 

     So there should be much more consideration given to seniors when it comes to making things easier. 

     What improvements would you like to see?

THAT PRINTER !

      When I got a new computer a few years ago I soon found out that I had problems hooking up my old  printer. I liked my old printer because all it did was print and did a good job of it. With the new computer there was no way to make a connection. The wires from the old printer just would not connect to the new computer. I tried looking for adapters and then I found out that the old printer  was not on the new computer's mind.

     So I bought a nice printer. No color though. Stay with black. However, there were still about 50 different directions on the thing. Not very many of them made sense to me. There were no instructions with the printer and to set it up I had to spend a few hours with Mr Brother. I did get it connected . At first they tried giving me oral directions but I found them difficult to follow. They emailed the steps and I could follow them

    The printer also had a scanner. Since I've had the printer I've only used the scanner a few times. Again there were no directions. So I just tried the buttons until it scanned. The next time I came to scan I went through the same experimental procedure.

    Yesterday I needed the scanner and had to send the scan by email. 

    This time I decided to write instructions. It was a challenge. It took me an hour to write the instructions. Then to test things I had the Micro Manger go through the instructions so there was some editing. 

    So now I'm a whiz at scanning. Maybe some day I will learn to print both sides? 

MORE GRANDMA

      My Grandma's life here, was a good example. However, I keep thinking about how she came to this country and left her family somewhere else. My Great Grandpa brought all of his adult children and they were all married. For several of them the in laws came along so there were several large families in a group. Most of these people had  lived in the same place in Russia and many were related. 

     However , in Grandma's case , as far as I know, she didn't have any relatives in the area. There apparently were some relatives in Illinois but I don't know if there was contact...maybe some letter writing. Most of the family communication was in German so I may have missed some things. 

     One of her brothers did show up in about 1947. One day a stranger got off the train in the village.  He had no coat or baggage. He asked where CK lived. He was about 200 meters from his sister's house. He was a big surprise as they didn't know that he was coming. He visited for seven days and got back on the train and was never heard from again. So some of the pioneers had to be strong to leave and lose family.

     Some people did come to the homestead as one and no family. However, many of the homesteaders came as family groups. My Mennonite neighbors came from the USA in large family groups. 

    Grandma's children were large. Her four sons were all over 6 ft. tall. Her four daughters were large women . When they all visited grandma, the men sat in the kitchen at the table and the women sat in the living room. The grandchildren tore around the farmyard.

     So as well as being strong physically they had to be strong emotionally as well.  

MOTHERS

     Recently I had an epiphany that the female side of my family also have a story to be told. There is not as much information on the maternal side but nevertheless it's important. 

     My great grandma Barbara was born in  1840 and died in 1911. She was married in 1862. She died before my Dad was born so I didn't get stories from him about his grandmother. My oldest aunt would have been about 11 when her grandma died but Aunt Martha didn't live close to us so we didn't get the stories. When my great grandma  came to Canada she brought all of her adult children. She was 65 years old when she came to the homestead.  She lived in a very small wooden house which was poorly built and very cold. She died of tuberculosis in 1911. 

      My grandma Caroline was born in 1874   and died in 1948. Grandma was a very hard working woman who survived under harsh circumstances. She never had electricity in her house and running water came in a pail from the well. So it was much work for her to raise 8 children under these circumstances. 

     Grandma had to be industrious to have enough food to last for a year. She was a skillful gardener and raised enough food to keep her family fed for the year. Her children spent much time in the garden weeding and then had to bring water by pail to water some of the plants. She had chickens, ducks and geese that provided meat and the chickens also produced eggs. They sometimes gathered wild duck eggs. My aunt told me how grandma told her to tell the difference between a fresh duck egg and one that had been hatching. She was also told to only take one or two eggs at a time. She also had a few cows so had milk and cream. Some game was also taken from time to time. 

     Very little was bought from the store...sugar, salt, coffee, yeast. Grain was hauled to a mill and made into flour. 

     Cabbages and potatoes were the main crop. The cabbages were made into sauerkraut and in that way the cabbage was preserved. 

     I remember going to grandma's house when some of her sons were there. They would talk about the good donuts Grandma made. In no time flat donuts were being made . I remember these fresh donuts and how Dad and his brothers enjoyed coffee and donuts. The family always spoke German when they were together as this was their first language. 

    At one time Grandma made all clothing for the family. It's amazing how much she could knit...socks, mitts, hats and more. They made goose down quilts. The houses would freeze out at night so a goose down quilt kept you warm. I remember Grandma and her daughter in laws making a quilt . They worked quickly but it was a lot of work. My cousin Betty sat under the frame and pushed the needles back up to the top. At the end of the day they had another quilt made. 

     Grandma was very practical. Houses were cold and she dressed for comfort and not style. She wore combinations fleece lined underwear and felt boots. 

     In 1946 Grandma moved into the little village into a house with no running water or electricity. 

    At 70 years of age they had no savings and were supported by some of their children. They each got a $5.00 per month old age pension. Other than that they still raised their own food. 

    Looking back she lived a very successful life under challenging circumstances. 

    We liked our Grandma even if most of the time she was busy and rather stern. She would sometimes take us into the dark stairwell to set the mood and tell us stories that were always scary. I remember her chuckling over these stories. 

    Grandma died in 1948 at age 72 . 

I OMITTED SOMETHING

       A while ago I made a number of posts starting with my Great grandfather , moving to my grandfather and then my Dad. 

       I got reflecting on these posts and suddenly it hit me. I hadn't included and women!

      I'm not going to look around for excuses as to why I left the maternal side of my family out.

      My great grandmother died in 1911, the year before my Dad was born. Dad had no stories about her. She died of tuberculosis . I did not hear any of my relatives talk about her so I don't know what she was like.

     I knew my grandmother well. As little boys we stayed with her the odd time. She was an older woman when her first grandsons appeared on the scene. She had four grand daughters by the time I showed up. The only thing I remember is that she sometimes told us stories. Her stories were of central European origin and were of wolves, bears and foxes chasing people across the land. Grandma was a very hard worker under very trying circumstances where she didn't have any modern conveniences.

      This is the only photo I have of my grandma but it is just as I remember her. This was taken the year before she died. 

      I know lots about my mother who was a very hard working and caring person. she had to be hard working to look after us. My Mom lived a short hard life and died at age 59 . 

       So here I am with Mom.

       So there are stories to tell about my maternal side of the family . I will have to rectify that situation. 

SLIDE SCANNERS

       I have been thinking about scanning my slides for a long time...too long. I've got so serious about scanning my slides that I have started looking for a scanner. I took slides from 1966 to about 1970 so my slides are old. However, they contain some important memories. 

        So I started checking out scanners. I found a wide variety of scanners. Since my slides are not great   just garden variety, I don't need an expensive scanner with all the gadgets. 

      What I found was that there is not one scanner for sale in my town...not one. Well, there was one on Kijiji but it had been sold. I also did a wanted ad on Kijiji but that has not worked. 

     So I checked on line. There are many scanners but when you check the availability many aren't available so your choice becomes smaller. I will have to buy on line. 

      So what better place to check than my blog followers. Have you scanned slides? What kind of scanner did you use? 

     Wish me luck!

TIME CHANGE

       So daylight savings time is visiting us again. I haven't seen very many bloggers complaining about the time change this year so I will snivel about the change. 

       I've gone through close to eighty changes to daylight savings time. For most of that time the change has not bothered me. I have never had a difficulty with the change. The next day I would be completely adjusted and would not even recognize that a change had taken place. 

      I lived in the Arctic for five years and loved the 24 hour daylight. The parties were longer and sometimes I had to stop and get some serious sleep.

     Recently , though,  I have found the time change more of a challenge to adapt to. It's harder to get up at the right time. Meal times seem noticeably off.  

     Then I thought about why do we even have day light saving time?  Yes, I know , we're supposed to get more daylight! What a laugh! The day light doesn't increase. Yes, I know it's supposed to  give us a longer evening so that we can have more evening outdoor time. 

    More and more people have been complaining about day light savings time recently. I'm sure that many areas would have changed from daylight savings time except that it's not that simple. If there is a change it would be much better if everyone changed. That's the challenge. How will we get everybody to change at the same time. After that we say do we stay on standard time all year or daylight savings time all year?

     I think we'll probably keep on with the time changes for a while until we get all of our ducks in a row to make a change happen. 

    What would you like to see happen to our time changes?