Kansas - Memorial weekend -- part 4 (Monday, May 28)

Monday we made pancakes from the mix that Donna had given us. They were really good. Mom fried up a lot of bacon (streaky bacon :-))

We drove the half mile to the cemetery where they were setting up for the Memorial Day ceremony. Deb found Uncle Ben's flag right away. Mom caught up with cousins, other relatives and other friends.

The ceremony included a speaker who was a young veteran and a gun salute made up of older veterans. The leader of the gun salute finished with "Stand down not fall down." Everyone laughed.

Deb and Linda left after the Memorial proceedings. Mom, Spade and Donna went back to the cabin. Mom's cousin Hoyt and his wife, Joanne, came down to see the cabin. Joanne does genealogy and shared stories of family histories.

Mom, Spade, Donna and I went to Virgil to put our remembrance on graves of my father's family. Dad's mother's brother, Ben Dalton, and his wife Madge are buried in the Virgil cemetery. It has always been a bit of lore that Grandma Trudy's family was related to the Dalton gang! Also William and Arena Alspaugh are buried here. They are dad's grandparents. Jack (Andrew Jack) Dalton, Grandma Trudy's dad, is buried close by.

We got caught in rain on the way back. My truck (Escape) got real muddy. That was cool. We stopped at Lizard Lips (or is it Leaping Lizard?) to pick up hot dogs and buns.

Larry came down for hot dogs and we made smores again. Larry showed Spade and I how you can "devine" for buried bodies. You take two lengths of copper wire. Bend one end 90 degrees so you can hold in your hand. Keep your elbows to your side. When you walk over a buried body, the two pieces of wire will cross. This also works for buried electrical lines. That's how he showed us.

Not everyone has the "touch" to do this. Larry looked at the lifeline on my hand and said it would most likely work for me. I had the right kind of lifeline. Spade, on the other had, did not but that he might get it to work. It worked very faintly for Spade but was very strong for me. I can't wait to try it out in a cemetery.

Here are some pictures:
Larry, Donna and Mom on front porch of cabin.


Spade (Loyd), Jeff and Mom (Gracie) self-portrait.