Wife of Craig, mom of Sarah, Jessica, Kyle, Lisa, Curt, and Cole, mom-in-love to Todd, Andrew, Vanessa, and Emily. Called Grammy by JC, Jayci, Trinity, Cambria, Titan, Braden, Adelaide, Cory, Whitney, Melissa, Ian, Mila, Lukas, Julie, Kate, and Susie, and Great Grammy by Elsie Mae. Black Lab Pepper rounds out the family!
Having my tent prepared to just lift the flaps and open for business turned out to be a real time saver. Not only could I begin selling immediately, but if there were an emergency or problem, I would be able to deal with that and not be worried about getting my tent ready.
I put that practice into place again for Sunday morning on Saturday night, taking home a box of 21 empty clothes hangers along with some other things that were empty or no longer needed, leaving the tent prepped and ready for the next day of selling.
Since I had the time Saturday morning, I decided to make and send a video to my grands and let them know what their Grammy was doing that weekend.
Grammy's tent tour was a huge success and I intend to do it again next year. (My adult children liked watching it, too.)
Being ready to go also allowed me the time to watch the staging and warming up of the opening ceremonies parade. Staging and warming up happens on the two paths that intersect right by my tent. Lucky me!
There are many bands and corps who play and march up to the field by the blockhouse where opening ceremonies are held. During that time a flag representing each of the 8 groups of people who were at Post Ouiatenon is raised, some history is read about them, and one of the bands plays a song in their honor.
Bagpipers heading to the staging area.
The actual parade has begun. Some parts are blurry - I was also open for business and had customers in my tent at the time so my hands were not always steady. But the music can be clearly heard!
Opening ceremonies take about half an hour and then the procession reverses and marches back towards me and the bands' camps. They will repeat this process at the end of the day for closing ceremonies when the flags are retired for the day.
Bagpipers returning to their camp. You can hear them coming but they don't come into sight until 00:30. It's worth the 30 second wait to see who you have been hearing.
Mama had anxieties and fears all of her life. With her family, she relaxed and we saw the loving, caring, relaxed Molly. But when something frightening, new, or scary was happening, once in a while she overcame those fears in the interest of her family.
Craig was outside with Nash putting up Christmas lights. Mama woke up, realized someone was outside the house, and actually went into guard dog mode. Never in my wildest dreams would I have imagined her growling and barking like this. While Pepper is with her, it's Mama you are hearing.
Mama had a life long fear of men. It took several years, but she finally relaxed around Craig, realizing he would never hurt her. She then began seeking out his company. Here she has gone over and asked for some love.
She's in what we call the "doggy drive thru." If any of the dogs needs a good scratching, they stand next to the couch and soon Craig is getting that itchy spot for them. Ahhhhh!
Our dogs follow us from place to place throughout the day. In 2024, Craig had run downstairs to get something, and he was followed down and then back up to his office.
Notice that Molly's tail is wagging constantly. That was our Mama!
Molly was still our dog at the time and it was times like this where Molly was so relaxed and joyful because Lisa was there that we began thinking that living with Lisa might be a better fit for Molly than living with us.
