They the builders of the nation

Richfield has hard water. My parents use salt to soften it in the house, but the sprinklers still spout out some pretty hard water. In high school I drove a Chevy Caprice. It had a really large windshied. (It had a really large everything, but that's beside the point) Anyway...The sprinklers would come and spatter that windshield and leave little hard water spots all over the place. The hard water would cause the window to cloud up and was especially annoying when you were driving toward the sun. It would cause this crazy glare that you could still see through, but only kind of.

It was frustrating as regular window washer fluid couldn't get rid of those little splatters. You had to use Lime-a-way or some other hard water remover. And I was lazy. I hated cleaning that window and would usually wait until I could barely see anything before doing anything about it.

Hubris has come back to bite me.

I've been having issues with my contacts. They are crazy cloudy... and it has nothing to do with the barometer. It's been an issue for several years, but the past few months it's been terrible. It's happened with different brands of contacts, different solutions, different make-up, different mosturizers, etc. Oddly enough, the common denominator was me. Who would have thought? Anyway, while not spraying Lime-a-way directly into my eye, I do spend a lot of time cleaning my eyeballs so I can see clearly....a lot meaning five or six times a day to minimize insanity. 

Well... I finally got fed up today and went into my eye doctor. He pulled one of his handy dandy machines up and before he could even look directly into my gold rimmed baby blues, he was like, "Woah. We need a picture of this." The then proceeded to take up the closest pictures my eyes have ever had. One from each side on each eye.

Then he showed me. I am not even kidding when I tell you it looked just like the windshield of the Chevy Caprice. Crazy!

Apparently I am a really good protein builder. And my contacts love hanging on to said little eye proteins. They like hanging on so much that they make my vision drive me nuts. So... we'll try a different solution. I've used this solution before and the problem was less prevalent, so here's hoping. If that doesn't work, I'm headed to a daily contact lens.

But until then, just remember... I'm watching you. Well, kind of... it's a bit cloudy out.

Hatchet Hannah

Happy Pioneer Day!!

I am three years behind in my scrapbooking. Nothing new.

Anyway, I just finished a layout featuring this picture last night.

I thought it fitting for Pioneer Day. 

This is a statue of Hannah Duston in Haverill, Massachusetts

In March 1697, Hannah had just given birth to her 12th child. Her widowed neighbor, Mary Neff, had assisted her in the birth and was helping care for the family as she recovered. When baby Martha was 6 days old, a band of Indians attacked. Hannah's husband, Thomas, had seen them from the fields and quickly gathered their other 8 living children and shuffled them off to safety. He then returned to try to save Hannah. It was too late... the Indians had taken off with Hannah, Mary, and baby Martha. Before they left, they torched the house. 

Fearful of pursuit, the Indians took their hostages north toward Canada. When the baby proved to hinder their progress, they killed her. In just a few days they had traveled nearly 100 miles. Along their journey, Hannah befriended a young boy, Samuel Lennardson, who had been taken captive several months earlier and was pretty much part of the Indian clan. 

While camping in what is now New Hampshire, Hannah put her escape plan into action. She, Mary, and Samuel, arose around midnight, took the tomahawks from their captors and proceeded to kill 10 of the 12 before anyone knew what was even going on. She quickly gathered supplies and headed down the river via canoe. 

When she realized her story lacked credibility, she returned and scalped her dead captors. With scalps in hand, she and her little band of survivors went back down the river to Haverill. There she collected bounty for the scalps of the Indians and lived almost forty more years in Haverill. 

So what's the connection?

I am a direct descendant of the infamous Hatchet Hannah!

Hannah Webster Emerson Duston

Timothy Dustin

James Dustin

Ebenezer Dustin

Bechies Dustin

Seth Dustin

Chauncy Loveland Dustin

Olive Irene Dustin Johnson

Erma Olive Johnson Baggs

Roxey Carlene Baggs Taylor

Ashlee Dawn Taylor!

Bam! Don't mess. There was even a bobble-head you could have purchased. Crazy! 

Anyway... not really a Pioneer story, but I thought it was pretty cool. 

June Reads

35. Out of Oz by Gregory Maguire ***
This was the last of the Wicked series by Gregory Maguire. Dorothy came back, the Cowardly Lion saved the day, and Rain came to know her true self. I'm glad there was an audio version of this book as I'm not sure that I could have mustered the fortitude to actually read it. Anyway... I didn't actually mind Wicked (the last 2/3 anyway), but Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister is my favorite Gregory Maguire book.

36. Little House in the Big Woods  by Laura Ingalls Wilder*****
(Wisconsin)
I loved these books growing up... and after reading Out of Oz, needed something a little lighter and more innocent to occupy my mind. This was perfect! I love all the characters, the simplicity of the life (so it seems), and the joys of family. Sometimes I wish my life was less complicated.

37. Breathless by Dean Koontz ***
(Colorado)
I loved reading books by Dean Koontz when I was a teenager. He was an author that delved into the supernatural but without aliens and apocalypse. I loved the mystery and the intensity and would devour most everything he wrote. Now, perhaps in his golden years, he seems to have mellowed. One of my favorite series is about the character of Odd Thomas. He also has written several books lately involving dogs - especially golden retrievers. Anyway.... this was none of those. It was kind of supernatural.... it kind of involved dogs... it kind of was disappointing. It had potential, but the denouement was rushed and unfulfilling. Oh well... I guess I'll go back to Odd Thomas.