Pecan Grove (www.pecan-grove.net)

August turned from dry to wet… we’re glad for the rain… the pecans are looking good.  All here are doing reasonably well.  John caught enough fish for another fish fry.  Elton went to visit his daughter Cheryl and Jim Hutchinson in Olympia Washington, and was at the Olympia 2 convention!  Almost 99 year old jet setter!  Here’s Elton with Cheryl, then Jim and Cheryl with an old friend, Jean Larson.

The Lopez family visited from Dallas.  Dad turned 83, here with John, Salena and Kenny.  Some of the friends in France asked Kathy and myself why we weren’t fatter!  Everytime they look at the blog they see birthday cakes.

Elton visits the 3 in the nursing home each week… Naomi, Roger and Teresa.  Naomi continues to do a little better… is dressed more often.  Teresa is in bed in this picture but is up and dressed sometimes.

Ty and Amy Nordic are still in the process of moving here… currently staying in the cabin.  Here Ty is entertaining us, then Ty and Amy with Larry and Jan Pierce who were visiting from Georgetown.

Clarence and Don visit from time to time… less often than before since there is now a meeting at Clarence’s.  Bud and Mary Aldrich from the Fort Worth area visited Ruth.

We had several other visitors, but unfortunately no pictures.  Two pictures from France, both from McDonalds.  You enter your order, pay for it, and get a receipt at the computer screen… then go to the counter to collect your order.  Dogs are welcome.

Ken

In July it’s gone from too wet to too hot and dry.  All at Pecan Grove are doing reasonably well.  Ruth had shots in her back for disc problems, which seem to have helped.  Then she was a passenger when a fender bender happened on the farm and her airbag deployed… she’s doing ok from that also.  She had lots of visitors this month, includeing her sister and husband, Martha and Hubert Dawley, George Lee and Cecil Wise.

George went with us, Karin and kids, and Karla and kids to the nursing home to see Naomi, Roger and Teresa.  All 3 love to see kids!  Naomi was up and dressed… first time I’ve seen her like that since she went into the nursing home!  Roger loves to tell us we all need to be childlike.  The last picture is of George with all 5 kids.  We didn’t get a picture with Teresa… she was in bed but still appreciated the visit.

Elton is having work done on his teeth… almost 99 years old, lives on sugar… lots of energy… amazing guy!  He’s our official photographer, so often isn’t in pictures.  He asked for the following picture with Kathy and the grandkids… to make sure he got included in the blog!  The second picture is of dad (Jack) with his 9th great-grandchild… Dylan Kelleher.

Conchita had a birthday.  Here she is with Samuel, then the 2 of them with Dylan.

Samuel’s cousins and others from Mexico visited Samuel and Conchita, and Raymond.  Sorry, I didn’t spend much time with them and can’t tell you all the names.

Jennifer and Rachel took Alice to Happy for preps and convention.  Carol and Mike Martin and their granddaughter Kayden visited PG. Carol is Alice’s niece… but Alice was at Happy.  That’s the way the timing worked out… glad for their visit.

Dub and Cindy Johnson came to visit Naomi, and stopped at PG for a visit.  Herbie and Paty Barnette came to visit with Justin Anderson… shown here with dad.

Dominique’s cousin from Paris, Cathy, visited.  Here shes with the group at Clarences on Sunday morning, and then with Elisa (Mille) Herd and Elisa’s 3rd son Eli.  Kathy and I are in France now for some vacation and then for the convention at Chaintreauville which starts August 6th.  We hope to see Cathy, possibly at Chaintreauville and later in Paris.  Kathy and I return home August 11th.

After we left for France, Gerry and Margaret Gunderson visited Elton at PG.  Sorry we missed them!  The second picture is on a tour with dad, Sandy and Samuel.

Dave and Nancy Schmertman came for a visit with Howard and Mary Ann Colson.  They’re in the same North Houston field… but so far away… were glad for the visit.  Bambi still drinks goats milk from a bottle, and makes a mess when she does.  Here Sandy is licking milk off of Bambi.  How old does a fawn have to be to be weaned from goats milk?  The pecan trees are looking good in spite of way too much rain followed by draught!

Ken

June has been a wonderful month.  Naomi was moved to the same nursing home that Roger Cleveland and Teresa Goff are in.  She’s very content there.  John had some bad days with weakness and back pain.  Doctors didn’t find anything, and now he’s doing better, though he hasn’t been fishing yet.  Elton was able to attend Judy’s funeral in PA… and is still savoring the experience.

Some visitors at the beginning of the month came for Dale Maki’s memorial service.  These included Kim (Panama), and Esther (Mexico City), shown here with Alice.  Also Oscar and Oliva from Monterrey, shown here with their daughter Exie and family.

Jennifer’s parents came to visit while Marilyn and RoseMary were still here.   Here Jennifer is with her parents and Marilyn, and then a picture of the 3 Marilyns that were here.

Jeff Chenault came and did a lot of landscape work.  The first picture is at the Valdez with 2 of the Marilyns, RoseMary, Samuel, Conchita, Bambi, Joyce, Alice, Jack and Kathy.  Also, Lety’s family was here from Mexico.

LeRoy came through on his way to Canada for conventions.  Here he is with Raymond and with our youngest resident, Bambi.

Marilyn, Doris (93) and Jennifer had birthdays in June.

John’s sister Sue came to visit with the Garys.  Then the Gary’s daughter Allison and family, the Potters, came to visit also.

The 2 Roberts from Georgetown, with only 1 Linda, came to visit John.  Ty and Amy Nordic are moving here from Tulsa over the next few months.

Charlie and Rosie Erickson, and Karen Oetken visited Alice.  We didn’t get a good picture, but here they are with the group at Clarence’s last Sunday.  Clarence lives an hour from PG, and is unable to drive to meeting, so there’s a rotation started with friends going to his place each Sunday.  Karin had our 5th grandchild in June, Dylan Kelleher, shown here with Kathy and myself, and his sister Katelyn.  Katelyn tried to help Jennifer play the piano.

Speaking of grandkids, here are the 3 Furrows with Bambi, and then Bambi doing something we’re still trying to teach the kids to do!

Thanks for your interest and care.

Ken

Our dear friend, Dale Maki, passed away Saturday morning.  His soft spirit and friendship are already missed.  His memorial service will be this Sunday.  Here’s a picture of Dale with Patty and a friend from China, taken May 1.  The second picture is of part of the group that was together that day.

Ruth Evans came from Georgia to join our residents at PG… so now we have 7 residents.  Here’s a picture of Ruth, and then a picture of her with the Colsons, George and Norma.

Marilynn Frye is here for a visit from north Texas, and Marilyn Nutt and RoseMary Fandrich (shown with Elton) are here visiting Naomi in the nursing home.  Naomi has rallied some with their frequent visits, but she is still very weak.  Ron Nutt (Marilyn’s brother) took Marilyn up to Tyler for the weekend.

Jeff Chenault came to do some landscaping and to visit.  Here he is with Elton.  Michaela and Katie visited, shown here with Kathy and Jeff.

Samuel found a very young fawn in the woods.  They are feeding it… it’s growing quickly… named it Bambi. Kathy had three 65th birthday celebrations in May.

A group of Spanish friends came yesterday for a Memorial Day picnic.  Here are some pictures.

Here’s a group picture taken this morning, including the 7 residents.

We had another flood last week, the worst so far.  Fortunately we haven’t had much damage at PG, but a lot of roads have been closed.  Some of our grass carp went out the secondary overflow and were laying in the pasture below.  Samuel picked them up and is cooking them… says they’re good!  Even John wasn’t interested in trying them.

All the moisture is causing scab (a fungus) to grow on the pecan leaves (black dots). We lost much of our crop to scab last year, so we’re spraying fungicide more often this year… but there’s more rain in the forecast.  We know now why farmers are like hound dogs… crying all the time!

Ken

We’ve had some bad storms in April… thanks to those who have been in touch to make sure all were ok here.  In the first major storm, we were fortunate to only get 4″ of rain when Houston got 20″.  A second storm earlier this week caused a lot of damage in Willis (10 miles from PG), but hardly any damage here.  In the third storm, early this (Saturday) morning, we had 5″ of rain in a little over an hour!  Here are pictures taken this morning, the first of the lake and the second of the secondary overflow from the lake.  The secondary overflow should only have water going over it when the water volume is too great for the normal pipe to handle.

Ann and Alice Harris visited from New York.  Elton was the elder in the meeting they went to for many years. Here they are with Elton, and then with the 3 in nursing homes Roger, Naomi and Teresa.  Naomi isn’t doing well… loosing weight, not eating… is very weak.  Roger and Teresa do well.

Jon and Gianine Peterson brought Diane and Leland Broughton (sister and brother) to visit.  Here they’re together and then with their old friend Duane Hinkley.

John caught a bunch of fish… here he is with a bass… so we had a big fish fry when the Broughtons came… over 30 of us.  Kathy and Gianine helped John fry the fish.  The Hawkins boys enjoyed our new dog Sandy.

Herman Anderson came with the Makis, while my sister Ronda and Mike Rosamond were visiting.  Dad got cut off in this picture.  Andy and Dorlene Anderson visited Jean.  Ted and Teresa Westerbur brought Ted’s parents for a visit.

Alice and I share a common birthday in April.

Elton’s family arranged for a barbershop quartet to visit PG and sing… it was very harmonious!

Jennifer and Rachel visited Teresa in the nursing home.  Teresa can still play the piano.  Our meeting Wed evening at Milles is shown in the second photo.  The couples from left to right, Maki, Valdez (with Josh Maki behind), Mille, Newman, Hinkley, Overby and Colson.

Last month I wrote about the pecan tree grafts we had performed.  Here’s two of them (on one tree) a month later.  The graft on the left has a new branch growing out of the top of it.  The one on the right has a new bud.  We’ll have to choose between them when they get bigger.  The leaves at the bottom are new branches that sprang out of the old wild root… we call them sucker branches… and cut them off.  They would quickly outgrow the branches that have been grafted in.

Ken