Can it be that it has been 2 months since my brother passed away? Hard to believe it really is so. I meant to post about our trip out there.
Well, on our way to Pennsylvania for his funeral, we stopped to see my mom's family in Ohio.
This is a picture of my mother's parents - Monroe and Anna Geiger. They are no longer living. Take that back - they are now more fully alive than ever now!! (DL Moody) Just not here.
Grandpa and Grandma and their 5 kids lived on a farm outside of Pandora, Ohio. Three of the 5 became full-time missionaries; in France, Japan and Mali, Africa. The other brother and the brother-in-law have been on numerous missions trips abroad. They love the Lord dearly!
Grandpa and Grandma farmed their acreage (corn, wheat and oats - Mom says they rotated crops). They also had an orchard. Peach, apple, pear, quince and cherry trees of all various varieties. Grandpa knew how to graft those trees so that it could grow 2 different varieties of a fruit on one tree! The soil was very rich in that part of Ohio.
They grew elderberries, raspberries, strawberries, loganberries, and concord grapes.... I didn't really get to know my grandparents too well, having grown up 1/2 world away, but I can still taste those canned cherries of Grandma's! Mom tells me that when she was born there on the farm, the doctor did not make it in time. Because of that, he did not ask for pay, but he did request for a can of Grandma's delicious sweet cherries!
They also had several milk cows (Mom said she would stay in the house helping Grandma, but Aunt Treva would milk as did the boys). And with their Swiss ancestry, of course they made lots and lots of cheese!
Grandpa was quite the inventor -
He made a grinder for making grapenuts.
He motorized an ice-cream maker with an electric motor before there was such a thing as electric ice-cream makers (too bad he didn't patent that!)
He made lots of toys - threshing machine, tractor with a record-player motor, toy horses, snow sleds, doll beds, dolly highchairs... and even a cart to which a goat or sheep was harnessed to pull the children around.
He made this little trike which the kids love!
He converted an old oven into a fruit and vegetable drying machine.
He motorized a washing machine for Grandma.
He tried motorizing a butter churner but it spewed cream everywhere so Grandma put a stop to that!
He motorized a feed grinder, a saw to cut down trees, a clothes washer, fruit tree sprayer, a table saw and water pump for cattle.
He made a buckrack from a Packard sedan to rack up hay and wheat sheaves.
Made a fence charger for cattle from a Ford model T coil.
This was all in the "old days" before there were such things.
On the day we were there, it was very foggy. The old farm house (you can barely see it through the fog) has been sold and Uncle Mahlon built a new house beside the barn.
He kept the barn.
As kids we used to climb into the loft often. I LOVE the smell of that barn!
Uncle Mahlon has a heated shop out in the barn now. He loves to tinker. Just like Grandpa did.
Grandpa made that toy tractor. That was before there were John Deere's. Uncle Mahlon collects John Deere's so he painted it like that. Grandpa loved to make things. He made lots of toys. Great-grandpa Aaron made the horses.
Uncle Mahlon
Uncle Wally and Al
The siblings. Aunt Wava is in Mountain Lake, MN and Aunt Treva passed away a few years ago.
Here are Uncle Wally, my mom and Uncle Mahlon. They are so funny - joking around and pulling tricks.
Here are my uncles with their sweet wives, Wanda and Anne.
We are talking about a family reunion maybe next summer. Wish Doug could have been a part of that too.
It was a horribly humid, muggy, sultry night. The dunk tank actually looked inviting!
There were games for the kids.
Unique items.
Those make me sad. They remind me that we aren't going to Dauphin Island for our vacation. We cancelled that. Luckily got all our money back. But it is especially sad for all those people in the Gulf whose lives are devastated by the oil disaster. Who knows how long before that mess is cleaned up and people can begin fishing again or when the beaches will be open again. And when we can go there for a fun vacation. 
