Not necessarily in upstate New York! This was the view out of my front window on the 9th! My old rust-bucket ’86 Celebrity station wagon celebrates its EIGHTH anniversary with me, on the 29th of THIS month!

This poor old work horse continues to haul lumber and cinder blocks for all my assorted home projects and transports Willy to sports practices (it’s baseball, now) and me to various meetings of Town Council and P.T.O. and American Legion, etc., but rust is rapidly conquering this valiant warrior! A lot of air comes through the rust holes in the doors, but that may not be a BAD thing, considering that the air conditioner is inoperable due to Freon recharge restrictions! No, along with air, WATER comes in when it rains; and it rains here a lot! Our planned camping trip to Indiana for this 4th of July is probably off. Though we had planned to meet some cyber gun buddies there and stop in and visit with some of the other Keidel branches along the way in Michigan and Indiana and Ohio, I really don’t think my Celebrity is up to it!

Cute little wife Ha-Yo came up to see us, but didn’t stay long! Her main effort was to drop off son Armin to spend Easter Week with us! I think he had a good time seeing Siamese Skaba again and helping us prepare for the, hopefully to become tradition, Easter Egg hunt at Grumpy’s place!

Granddaughter Rachel finds one of the elusive eggs on my tractor, as parents Walter and Heidi look on. I think Uncle Willy helped a little on this one! Altogether 42 eggs were hidden, six large and 36 small. We had counted on at least six kids from a combination of Melzers and Schultzes, but, alas, both invited Schultze families begged off at the last minute. So, since the eggs and baskets had been already bought and to make things more interesting, I invited four of the neighborhood kids. One could walk over, right from next door, but the others live a ways up the hill and had to be driven. Such is my "neighborhood" here. I think a good time was had by all!

Some of the other egg "hunters" are seen in the background. The eggs were of plastic and filled with M&Ms in chocolate and peanut varieties and various flavors of jellybeans. All but two were found! Two must have been militarily trained in Escape and Evasion, as even intense, prolonged searching could not locate them! When I mowed my orchard the next dry day, one was "killed" by mower blades, whereas the other was apprehended and eaten!

Of course I had hoped that Armin would be persuaded by the bucolic amenities so lacking in "citified’ Leominster, Massachusetts. Here, he too tries his hand at feeding the horses:

And of course, his shooting skills are deteriorating from disuse in suburban Massachusetts.

Willy and Armin are free to practice their shooting skills behind the house. NO, they were NOT shooting at the cat OR Tapper and Diamond!

But, alas, all good things must end and we say Good Bye as Armin leaves to go back to Massachusetts.

In the meantime………..

Willy and I have been busily planting new trees and doing a lot of "down home on the farm" type work. He almost single-handedly assembled the new trailer for the yard tractor, thus facilitating easy transport of cinder blocks and the collecting of rocks and stones and burn-able wood. It is also easier now to pick up and transport the cut grass from the orchard and bring it to the horses. The work on Phase Two of the Deck Project has commenced. More on this stuff in next issue, when we have pictures.

Curtis Ray Dykes, Sr. , the husband of Marypat (Keidel) Dukes N131, has suffered a heart attack and is at this writing in hospital undergoing blood-thinner treatment and tests to best determine what course of action should be taken. Maripat keeps all abreast of developments with daily e-mails. Of course, all our well-wishes are with him! I called him Sunday morning, April 30, and spoke with him. He seems in good spirits.

Our Keidel site at MyFamily.com seems to be attracting lots of visitors from different branches of the family. Even some of my cousins from Germany have logged on.

My father Wilhelm Heinrich Keidel A1112-31 as a young man. He died on the 18th of this month in 1975 in San Gabriel, California., USA.

--------------Grumpy