Reddirt Woman

Snippets And Odds And Ends...

2012-01-28T17:55:00.003-06:00

I get things running around in my head sometimes... I call them many things like wonderings, idiot attacks and/or brilliant revelations so I decided to jot down one or two... or seven. Who knows?

Do you know how to fold a fitted sheet? I do know how to do that because my momma taught me how many, many years ago when fitted sheets were first introduced to the market. The second part of this mind wandering is if you know how to fold them do you care whether or not you do?

Am I the only person who wonders why the advertising people pay people to trash a place and put leftover food out on the counters and blindfold people to see if their air freshener covers up the smell... when all they would have to do is go to most any college kids apartments without giving them notice and film it for probably a 6-pack and a twenty dollar bill and then lower the prices on the air freshener?

And, following along this line, has anyone besides me ever thought about giving someone a snow shovel to make it easier to clean their house? I didn't, but I sure thought about it...

Is there a gene that makes some people inventive and others (like myself) the ones without the gene that are saying, "Why didn't I think of that?"

What about that person this past week that won 14.3 million playing the wrong lottery game?... I keep telling our good Lord that winning the lottery wouldn't spoil me or change me and I keep getting the reminders that you have to buy the tickets before you can win... no matter which lottery you play.

No matter how much closer I move to where my sibs live, the older I get the harder it is to make myself drive to visit them... or even go to the grocery. Or maybe that is my state of mind right now. Just sayin'.

Do you ever feel like your doc is just experimenting on you?

Does anyone else have brilliant thoughts while out and about and then when you get home and go to write them down don't remember what they were? And how hard would it be for me to get it through my thick skull to carry a little tape recorder around so I could save these thoughts for posterity with just a click of a button...

There were a bunch more things running around in my brain but evidently they fell between the lobes while I was trying to document the wonderment of my thought processes... Next time maybe I will have more that I've written down or recorded to share with you but for now...

That's all, folks!

Grits Aren't Just For Deep Southerners...

2012-01-11T13:58:00.003-06:00

Any more, anyway... I told you all about the Chili Cheese Grits that Carol whipped up for Christmas. Neither she nor I have ever been a fan of grits but she ran across this recipe in a magazine and thought it sounded good... I thought she was nuts trying it out on a Christmas lunch but we were having company and she figured it would be more likely to be eaten, I guess. Not wanting to rain on her parade and since it had green chiles in it which gave the dish a southwest or Mexican nod I thought, "what the heck... give it a try". Dang, it was good. Almost like a spoon bread in texture. So I had to eat 'crow' along with everything else for lunch on Christmas. Here you go... enjoy.

CHILI CHEESE GRITS

3 Cups water
1 teaspoon salt
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Cup quick-cooking grits
1/4 Cup butter, at room temperature
1-1/2 Cups Longhorn cheese, grated (about 6 ounces)
4-1/2 ounce can chopped green chiles
2 eggs
1/2 Cup milk
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Bring water to a boil and add the salt and garlic. Slowly stir in the grits and continue stirring for 4 or 5 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat.

Add the butter, 1 Cup of the cheese and the green chiles, stirring until butter is completely melted. Beat the eggs with the milk, add to the mixture and mix well.

Pour into a greased 2 quart baking dish and bake, uncovered, in the preheated oven for 45 minutes. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese and serve.

Whomever wrote the original recipe should have added that the recipe might make a non-grits person into one who would request this dish. Obviously if I talked about it and took the time to copy the recipe for you all it is something that I would eat again.

Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks... or new foods to eat and like. I think Carol just wants to see if she can make something that neither of us has cared to eat into something good and yes, ma'am, she can!

Texas Trash And Other Tidbits...

2012-01-07T14:30:00.002-06:00

First off let me say that Chloe (and mom) made it through her health crisis. She's eating and cleaning the floor for any little tidbit that may have been dropped, she's barking at anyone who dares to darken her door or the little kids that she can see playing when she's in the yard. I'm so glad to have her back to her old self that I don't even threaten to beat her for her barking... I just pet her and tell her to hush her mouth.

Now on to the inquiry about Texas Trash. Originally I believe it was more commonly known as Chex Mix and the recipe you can find on all the Chex cereal boxes. Where we got to calling it Texas Trash was from additions and augmentations to the original recipe by friends in Texas and it just seems easier to remember for me than Chex Mix and more fun to say. The original recipe calls for (this is just guesstimation from me... we don't have any cereal here now for me to be exact) 2 cups of each of the Chex cereals, Cheerios, pretzels and nuts. Carol has also used Bugels (the snack) and usually uses mixed nuts. She also uses a full stick of margarine or butter instead of half a stick. You melt that down and add to it a couple of tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce and some seasoning salt, a couple of teaspoons I think. I can't remember if there are other ingredients and Carol is in the shower as I write this but if you don't find it on the Chex cereal boxes, give me a shout and I'll find out for sure the recipe. Anyway after you melt your butter or margarine and add the other ingredients, you pour it all over the cereal, pretzels and other treat stuff like Bugles or Goldfish or whatever and stir it up good. I would suggest you put in one of those throw away turkey cooking pans because then it goes in the oven on a low heat, probably like 250F. and every 15 minutes you pull it out and stir it up to get all the seasoning to all of the cereals and stuff. You do that two or three times and then you dare people to not eat it until they are full of it, too.

Really it is one of those snack things that folks will sit and pick at while watching football games or visiting with folks that stop in for a visit. It's fun finger foods for the little ones and everyone figures out what their favorite part is (mine are the rice Chex, for now) and you will catch them picking out their favorites. It is a snack that is easy to add to or change around like our friends that like to add Tabasco for a little kick (mmmm good!) or different types of snack foods like the Bugles or Goldfish crackers.

In a day or two I'll get Carol to print out the recipe for the green chili grits and pass that on to you all. I've never been a grits fan, nor has Carol, but she ran across the recipe and decided to try it. We are both glad she did and will have it again soon.

So that kind of explains about the Texas Trash/Chex Mix. It's fun to eat and easy to make, I could probably make it but don't tell Carol. You can have it going in the oven while you do other things and folks sure don't pass it by...

Enjoy.

Chloe's Home...

2011-12-23T22:59:00.004-06:00

She's not feeling real pert but at least she is home and not in a cage. She's in pretty rough shape but is on 2 types of antibiotics, a steroid, an anti- diarrhea med, an anti-nausea med and one for pain if needed. In other words they don't know what went wrong with my girl. They figure if you throw enough meds at it whatever it is, it will go away. I don't know how it will end with this round and expecting it could go either way but it gives mom a chance to get her mind ready for what ever is to come.

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. Our little family gets together for snacks... Rotel cheese dip, little smokies, and sandwich stuff for snacking and visiting. Then presents are opened. Until my Carol and I started living together Christmas Day was always the gift day but she had traditions she had already started with Jeff and so we do gifts on Christmas Eve. There would be Santa gifts on Christmas Day but since he is 38 now we don't do that anymore.

This year Carol is going to cook beef for Christmas Day instead of just repeating the Thanksgiving menu. I'll let you all know what will be cooking for Christmas Day as soon as I know what is on the menu.

In the meantime you all get your preparations for Christmas done so you can be sure to have time for hugs and to tell your families that you love each and every one, including the 4 legged babies because we never know for sure how long we are going to be of this world...

Update...

2011-12-22T08:39:00.003-06:00

First off, the liver enzymes are playing wreak havoc again. Not as bad as they were, but they have gone back up somewhat from last month. The good news is, that while the doc didn't take me off the steroids, he did increase the Imuran, the med that I'll be taking from now on I guess. I wasn't surprised that the blood test wasn't as good as last month because of how I'd been feeling. I guess I am learning to listen to my body at least a little bit.

My Chloe, my oldest girl, is at the vet's and has been since Tuesday. I'm very worried about her. She ran fever and refused to eat Monday evening and when she refused her breakfast Tuesday I decided that it was time to take her to the doctor. Her white blood count was up which could be an infection of some sort or it could be cancer. They took x-rays and didn't see any obvious mass anywhere but it could be hiding behind her organs. I talked with them yesterday about ultra sound and when the doc brought it up I asked what it would cost... about $300. Told them no, I couldn't afford that and if they did find anything I couldn't afford to have them do surgery or chemo. She will be 12 on the 1st of January and she has had a good life and what I needed them to do was try and get her re hydrated and feeling better if possible but if not then God needed a good pup in heaven. So needless to say I've been in bad shape about her. I'll let you know the outcome with Chloe.

Thanks for checking up on me. I'm going to close now for this post. Say a little prayer for my girl, if you would.

Thanks.

I'm Not Dead...

2011-12-17T08:57:00.002-06:00

I'm just aggravated. A couple of days after my last post (back in the dark ages) I sat down to write about whatever had crossed my mind at the time and set my hands over the keyboard to start typing and my hands, especially my left hand, were shaking like I was palsied. It was so bad that I had to grab it with my right hand and slap it around and fuss at it. I went ahead and tried to type with it and the words were coming out like sasalleee[op (sleep) or ggoeoffyy (goofy). Needless to say, I got p.o.'d and said to heck with it and hadn't written anything longer than replies to e-mails and only when necessary at that. I know that the tremblies are medicine related and I also know now that they are worse when I've done stuff with my arms and hands like painting the walls of the kitchen, which I did, and the muscles are tired. To me, at the time however, it was one more sign of "aging" and you all know that I refuse to even think about aging or my body betraying me by getting more "feeble". I'm too young for feeble to even enter the equation.

Other than the above I can't fuss about too much. I did get the kitchen repainted, including the woodwork, in time for Thanksgiving, and after Thanksgiving lunch at our house I drove to Ft. Worth to my brother and s.i.l.'s and visited with them and had Thanksgiving again on Sunday evening and came home on Monday. Last Sunday I drove to my nephew's home, about two hours from where I live, to stay with him for a few days after his knee replacement surgery. His wife just started her new job at a college about 3 months ago and with the jobs and economy the way it has been she didn't want to take a chance with her job because she really loves it so I went on Sunday and helped him out with keeping him supplied with liquids and lunch and whatever else he needed and then came home on Thursday evening. Tuesday and Wednesday we had thunderstorms, yes Virginia, thunderstorms in December, and when you live in the country and have to depend on satellite for your t.v. and internet you know if it rains you are going to be without t.v. and internet. I found I need to load some games to play that don't require me being on the internet. Usually I pack a book or two and a couple of magazines when I go anywhere for overnight but for some reason I failed to do that this trip so I was looking for things to do when I got bored with the games that come on the computer.

Next up is Christmas. Carol has been cooking already. She loves Christmas and loves baking for Christmas. I love Christmas, too, and I love eating most all of what she bakes. So far she has made pumpkin bread, banana nut bread, eggnog bread and apple cake with cinnamon icing. Fudge and baked fudge, butterscotch haystacks, Hidden Valley oyster crackers and Texas Trash or ChexMix to some folks. For her sister's birthday tomorrow she is making cowboy caviar, Christmas layered jello, green chili cheese grits, grilled chicken and talapia, asparagus and mushroom casserole, green chili spoon bread and bread pudding. Later she will be making peanut brittle, peanut butter fudge and chocolate covered pretzels. Dang, I'm gaining weight just typing all this.

So that's what's on the near horizon around here. I imagine there will be some cookies made and anything else that catches Carol's eye as she is going through her recipes. So if I go anywhere between now and Christmas they will probably have to roll me out of the house on a dolly. Just call me Porky.

I go Monday for blood work and then see my GI on Tuesday to find out where we are on my journey with my liver. I'm not even going to speculate on it, just think positive that I can finally get off the damn steroids. I will let you know. I won't leave you all hanging on this... if I can waddle to the computer after eating everything this weekend.

Have a great weekend and get all your Christmas shopping done so you can start on your Christmas cooking. I'll catch you all later.

Whoa! What's Going On???

2011-10-15T14:30:00.005-05:00

Two posts in three days? Dang... something has awakened an interest in life at least for the moment. I think I will share it with you all. Some background...Carol and I bought 4 okra plants last spring rather than planting from seed. Three died and one survived. Needless to say I knew I wouldn't get to pick enough for even a mess of okra for Carol and I so I just let it grow and watched it throughout the summer. I kept watching for the blooms because they are really beautiful, creamy white and look like a hibiscus. Okra likes to bloom early... I like to sleep late. I knew there were flowers that had to be making because they close up and that's where the babies start but my timing has just been off this summer because I haven't spent much time outside. Today I got a wild hair and went out to run the weed eater around the dog fence. I got about 2/3rds done before I had to take a break and I got to looking around at what I need to do for fall put away and clean up and happened to check out my okra to decide if I could make myself pull it up yet. I DO like watching things grow... I DON'T like pulling stuff up at the end of the season because things look so barren.

But I digress... not only was there an open flower on the okra plant, there were also buds, a couple of ready to pick okra and okra pods that were starting to break open and showing the b-b sized okra seeds. I got a couple of pictures to share with you all... Enjoy!

Family And Flowers...

2011-10-13T17:26:00.013-05:00

You all know how I feel about family. We always have such fun and special times when we get together. We laugh, cry, tease and have been known to tell off on each other but always with love.

Left to right... Mary Catherine, the oldest daughter of my oldest brother... my sweet niece that I spent lots of summers with when she was little even before her sibs started coming along. Sometime I'll post up some photos of those times. Nancy Lu is the youngest and only daughter of my sis who passed away when she was 23. Nancy Lu was just shy of 2 years old. She was the first granddaughter after her mom and dad had had two ornery boys. She is also a Leap Year birthday girl. Then there's yours truly, leaning on my sweet Nancy Lu as I have often done in my life. My sis sent me this photo in a note and I just had to share it with you all. It was taken at Nancy Lu's home in Bethany, OK, Labor Day weekend. Mary Catherine and her youngest son (bless her heart she has four boys) drove my big brother up from Ft. Worth for a visit. My sister and one of her boys (she also, bless her heart, has four boys) also drove up from Weatherford, TX, for a visit. My middle brother, Walter, and my cousin Carol drove in from Meeker to join with us and have a mini family reunion for the day. Anyway I love the picture and wanted to share a bit of the fun with you all.

In my life, here in Oklahoma, fall and mums go together. My Carol's birthday is in September and I would imagine there hasn't been a birthday for the last 20 + years that she has not gotten at least one mum and usually several. For her 70th birthday last year she requested no gifts from friends that came to share that milestone. When they persisted her sister and I said just bring her a mum. They did just that. This one is one I brought home for her this year. There is a grasshopper hanging around on the right hand post of the flower pot.

This is one of the 70th birthday mums that we managed to keep alive through the heat of the summer.

What a payback for our efforts to keep it alive. It is a beautiful, clear yellow and has been full of blooms. Carol always has me trim off buds until the 4th of July and then one time after that she has me just pick off the buds, not cut them. Then we let 'em rip. I don't know where she got her info on doing the mums that way but it has sure worked all these years.

This is another of the birthday mums we managed to keep alive. This red isn't as densely packed as the yellow but it has really been strutting it's stuff and putting on a show for us.

We lost a couple of the other mums and several shrubs as well as our tomato and pepper plants but we are thankful for the ones we managed to keep with us until the heat wave finally broke and we started getting more normal temperatures.

I want to show you something new that is new to us...

The seeds were gifted to me by the young man that does my hair. Besides giving the best haircut I've ever had, Dude loves to grow flowers as much as I do.

I think I've told you about the quote that I've carried with me for probably 40 years...

"Not By Bread Alone: After Hippocrates", by James Terry White (1907) that reads:

"If thou of fortune be bereft

And in thy store there be but left

Two loaves, sell one and with the dole

Buy hyacinths to feed thy soul."

Dude said these are called hyacinth vines or some people call them Hawaiian bean vines.

The blooms look a bit like sweet peas or even kinda similar to little orchids.

After the blooms the vine puts on a purple seed pod and since this vine won't winter over in our Oklahoma zone 5-6 so I'll be collecting the pods to be able to grow some more next year. I'll have a lot of them so if any of you want to try these out e-mail me with your address and I'll send you some seed.

I had 8 or 10 seeds that I basically just put at the northeast corner of the trailer thinking it's already June and I don't know if these will make or not... If I had known then what I know now I would have also put a trellis with them. They are climbers and have gone all over. It's been great. Even in the heat the vines flourished. They were in the same bed as the mums so they did get watered but I was totally astounded at how well and how fast they grew. They new leaves are light green with purple veining.

These are the purple seed pods and there are a bunch of them. I would be interested if some of you that live further north would be able to grow this vine as it seemed to sprout from the seeds quickly and grew fast as a weed and all over the place. I didn't mind that because I like the looks of a wilder garden but next year I'll put a trellis for them to climb. I have an idea for one I'd like to make myself that I think would show off this little beauty. I'll keep you posted on that little project.

Well I've sure been way longer winded with this post than I have been in a long time and you know what? It feels pretty good! Maybe the meds are getting me back to somewhat my old self.

Let's hope so... and let me know if you want to try out some of these hyacinth vine seeds.

More Spreckles, Anyone?

2011-10-10T14:31:00.009-05:00

I had such fun with my last post that I decided to post up my second choice photos...

Spreckles is such a cutie that I figure you all won't mind some photos that aren't quite as good as the first batch I posted. Not that they were great, just maybe a little sharper and such.

My silly girls were barking and Jenny was checking to see who was making all that racket. Spreckles was still eye-balling that tall thing with the black box in front of her face.

Here's one I snapped as Jenny was walking up to check for treats and the baby was paying close attention.

Are you sure it's okay, Mom? I want to meet this new person...

Mom says, dang, no treats I'm back to the grass but Spreckles had more studying she wanted to do.

She was really concentrating and taking me in so I was really careful to not make any sudden moves and just talked to her quiet-like telling her she was as sweet as her little momma.

We've had several inches of rain the last two days so I expect when I go out next week there will be some green grass in the photos. I was going to take pictures of the ponds out behind the house but they were down so low it was depressing so I chose to do the happy baby post instead.

Friday while I was there they had a semi load of hay delivered and that's the first time in a long time they've had to buy hay but the heat and drought of the summer is one of those things that the farmers and ranchers have all had to deal with this summer. So if you see beef prices increasing you all know their expenses went up---- a lot this year.

So you all enjoy the 'seconds' of Spreckles and Jenny out on a beautiful fall day and I'll get more pictures when I go out in a week or ten days again.

Happy Monday, y'all!

Spreckles...

2011-10-06T21:32:00.010-05:00

Remember when I wrote about the new surprise baby? Way back in July... the 9th and how I had to get out to the country to take some photos to share of the little cutie patootie?

October 6th and I finally got out here for a visit. Took my camera out this afternoon and, just for you all because you are all so special to me, I took a bunch of pictures and she is even cuter in person. Or donkeydom or real life or whatever.

Here's the cutest 3 month old I think I've ever seen. Donkey or human. But then I tend to be prejudice towards four-legged critters because I don't have to worry about changing poopie diapers if I'm stuck alone with them for any stretch of time. Babies know, like cats, when people aren't comfortable with them or their poopie diapers, babies not cats. I wouldn't change diapers on a cat either but I digress...

We are talking about this little cutie.

Spreckles.

Check out these wonderful ears, the fuzzy forehead and the cute little nose... a baby's curiosity.

I love how she and her momma would act like they were grazing, all the while checking out that 2-legged critter with a funny black thing in front of her face...

I love how the little fuzzy butt stayed real close to mom while checking me out. I squatted down to be less imposing to the little girl and I talked to sweet Jenny who remembered my voice and ambled over to see if I had brought her treats like I did when I was living out here. I didn't have any but by mom coming to me Spreckles was way more comfortable for her photo shoot.

Okay, Ms. Gardner... I'm ready for my picture to be taken...

While this is not the best photo of her I had to put this shot in because I was telling Cuz and Walter how the way her fur was growing on her face made her look like she has 'mutton chops' growing down her little cheeklets.

Anyway, my girls and I are enjoying a couple of days of unfettered (unleashed) walks, the girls are smelling every leaf and blade of grass and are enjoying their strolls with Spud and sometimes Lucky, my cousin Carol's Jack Russell indoor dog and the found Lucky with the gimpy paw who watches over things on the outside.

It's been too long since we've been out to visit in the country but with the extraordinary heat of the summer and me feeling so lousy for so long... well, it has been too long away. After watching the girls run and buck with Spud I won't be staying away this long again. I will need to get treats for Jenny and Spreckles and start the spoiling again. It's too much fun to scratch their long ears.

Finally!!! Some Good News!

2011-09-27T19:35:00.004-05:00

Maybe the GI does have a clue... I got my blood drawn yesterday and made my appointment this morning with my doctor and he came in with a small smile on his face! The highest out of range function is dropping and the two that were lesser out of range have dropped into high normal range. Yahoo!!!

The best part is I can go from 40 mgs. a day of the steroids to 30 mgs. a day for the next two weeks then drop back to 20 mgs. for 2 weeks until my next blood work and appointment. Thank you Lord... Those steroids wreak havoc with me, especially my rest and if I don't get my rest I'm a grumpy, growly lump that just wants to be left alone by all except my girls and sometimes even SueSue gets on my last nerve. Chloe is always sweet and wonderful and as content to lay around as long as mom wants to...

Reporting on the melatonin the shrink wanted me to try... I think it is helping me to rest better. I seem to be going to sleep easier and feeling more rested. I do seem to have more drowsiness to deal with when I do get up but once that passes I am feeling pretty good. I even started painting the kitchen. Will wonders never cease...

Anyway, let me say that I appreciate you all putting up with all this medical boring stuff simply to support my struggle with dealing with scary health things. More than I can say I am thankful for each and every one of you holding me up and being there when I needed to yell and vent and cry and know it's okay to let my guard down. More than words can say.

I've Been Too Long At The Fair...

2011-09-21T21:13:00.001-05:00

I wish. Of all things I enjoy doing one of the top things on my list is going to the State Fair. It is one of those things that Carol and I both enjoy. We don't care about the rides but we love to go through all the buildings... Seeing all things from quilts, woodcarvings, photographs, butter sculpture, all sorts of crafts and foods... pies, cakes, cookies, canned goods, on to cut flowers, veggies of all sorts entered and hoping for best of show ribbons and recognition from their peers.

We like to look at all the things the school kids make, create, draw, paint and, again, cook and enter for perusal and judgement feeling their excitement emanating from their works or perhaps that's just my over-active imagination and recall from back in the olden days when I would enter poster drawing contests in grade school and be so excited, especially when news would come back that I'd won a ribbon... recognition for my creative abilities.

We also enjoy sampling a variety of "fair foods"... We both have our favorites and what we usually do is buy something, share it, wander and look some more, buy another food, share it and wander on to the next thing... for sure we always end up with a funnel cake, usually taking it to the car as we leave to munch on as we drive home.

This year none of the above happened. We would like for it to have happened, I mean we aren't getting any younger you know, but due to financial problems (van troubles that needed repair) and my feeling lousy and having doctor bills to pay... We didn't go to the fair.

But I digress... I've been too long from my blog. As I had shared with you all I have been having a hard time dealing with depression. I went to my GI on Sept. 13th for my appointment. My liver enzymes were still off, including another one that hadn't been up before. I've really got my doc scratching his head now. I told him that I really was not trying to be his difficult patient and he said if this keeps up I'm going to end up at the Liver Center at Mercy or Baptist Hospital. Geez. And as if I wasn't sleeping poorly enough, he jacked my Prednisone, a steroid, to 40 mg. a day and put me on Imuran, the long term med he had said he was going to prescribe after that first month of steroids got my ducts settled down which they didn't but he started me on the Imuran anyhow. It takes a while for the Imuran to build up in my system and he will start reducing the steroids a bit at a time. If any of you have been on an extended steroid regimen you know how it can mess with you. The news of possibly having to go to the hospital for tests was not exactly the news I was hoping for when I went to my appointment and I came home angry, frustrated and even more depressed. Am I ever going to feel human again?!

I called and made an appointment with a psychiatrist. I went to see him today. He upped my Cymbalta and also had me get some homeopathic stuff. Melatonin to try to help me rest and B-50 to help do something else, fish oil for something else and a prescription for folic acid to help with the liver. Don't misunderstand me... I'm more than willing to try this regimen for the next month and will try to document if it helps and at my next appointment we will determine if there has been any improvement in the depression. If so I will continue taking the vitamins along with the antidepressant and if not we will take the next step whatever that may be.

So I bit the bullet and took your all's advice and, better late than never, made the call for help. I hope that I will be able to soon report that the black cloud has lifted and is finally under some form of control. Better living through chemistry, don't 'cha know... Seriously I knew I needed some help to break the cycle but just kept putting it off thinking I could pull myself up by my bootstraps like I had in times before but I just didn't have the reserves this time. I think the extraordinary heat of the summer, along with the physical ailments that I've been dealing with the last 8 months just wore me down so I want to thank you all for standing behind me, encouraging me to get some help to deal with all this... You probably should have been kicking me in the butt to get me to move on it a little quicker but at least I'm in the works now and will follow through until at least my mind is better...

My next blood work and GI appointment is scheduled for the 27th of this month. I'll keep you posted on what is determined at that appointment. But I will post something between now and then so you all will know I'm still alive!

I will try to not stay quiet for this long again. Thanks to each and every one of you for checking on me and encouraging me. And I really, really mean it.

Another Ringy Dingy...Flower And Veggies...

2011-08-14T21:18:00.020-05:00

My hens and chicks and other succulents came out strong and happy to show their colors, oh joy, oh joy. Spring is coming.

Let's burst out with all our blooms to celebrate!

Let's throw out beautiful color to welcome spring...

Fifty one days later. I've never lost hens and chicks to heat and am praying that these are not truly gone but will come back next spring.

They look like someone tried to blowtorch them... and I guess in a sense that was true.

Sunflower turning it's face up toward the sun, celebrating...

Now... they can't even hold their heads up...

Ah, beautiful lantana. So bright and vibrant in it's color.

This plant has thrived! It has at least doubled in size and has been blooming it's branches off.

The yellow and white lantana and the beautiful blue plumbago that so delighted me with the colors looking so good together...

These also have loved the heat. I wasn't too surprised about the lantana but the plumbago did surprise me. It looks so delicate but it must be tough as iron to have survived the heat.

I'll be getting more of both those plants next year just in case we have another hot one... but I'm praying that we don't have to go through another summer like this one in my lifetime.

I've shared with you now some of the good, the bad and the ugly. I hope your summer wasn't as tough on your garden as it was on ours. The weather forecasters think we here in Oklahoma will hit the 50 days over 100 degrees F. by Saturday, but having had a break with several rounds of storms will make the rest of the summer bearable.

Ask Not For Whom The Bells Toll...

2011-08-13T20:44:00.008-05:00

Just be glad it's not for you or me... July, 2011, saw records being broken for heat all over the country and Oklahoma won with the hottest average for the month EVER recorded in the United States. It is a record that I just as soon would not have been smack dab in the middle of and watching my garden being roasted. My good day cucumbers that started out so well are DED dead...

Before... I was having fun hunting the little baby cukes getting their start towards growing to make my day, my salads day. At about the 2oth straight 100 degree F. day Norman was put on water rationing and we were cut to even day watering and the soaker hoses and sprinklers could only be run on our day before 9 a.m. and after 6 p.m. so I did a lot of evening watering.

This picture I took today... just 51 days later. The good day cucumbers, besides trying to survive the heat, were defeated by a cut in the hose that I didn't find for four days. I had been fussed at to stay in out of the heat with all the medical crap that I had going on. I would go turn on the water to the soaker hose that I had run under some hedges, the sunflowers and the good day and bad day cucumbers. When things started looking not so good I got out and investigated and found the leak in the hose. Very little water made it to the plants for six days.

The bad day cucumbers getting their start. I have had a lot of fun doing the planting by the signs that Tipper over at Blind Pig And The Acorn started three years ago. I've always worked hard trying to insure that both groups got the same treatment, both in watering and keeping weeds and grass from taking nutrients from the plants so between the heat and me not checking the plants closer and not finding the hose problem really made me feel bad because both groups didn't get the same fair shake.

This picture I took today. These plants have survived, but barely. The break in the hose was further away and so these plants got their fair share of water. I found two cucumbers when I was looking at the plants today when I was out taking photos. I will probably say something on down the line about the cucumbers but this will be my last 'official' farm report because of the demise of the good day plants.

I was going to show you the flowers and how they are doing but I think I will make that my next post. I want to do some comparison photos for them also so I will work on that because I really do want to share with you all and help you see how decimating the heat was not only on the veggies but on the flowers. These posts will be somewhat depressing but I'm also trying to explore the optimism that all who love to garden must find to keep on keeping on with what we love to do when weather extremes mess with us...

Does that sound grandiose???

It's Not The "C" Word...

2011-08-12T21:10:00.001-05:00

I'm not sure what it is but it's not cancer. The name of the diagnosis of the liver biopsy is as follows:

LIVER BIOPSIES: Changes suspicious for autoimmune cholangitis

Big words for a little lady... I've asked for the medico types in my family to share with me what the hell this is in layman's terms and when I get it I will share with you. Best I could understand from my doctor was that it is somewhat rare and is inflammation of the bile ducts. The doctor doesn't know what causes the change in the liver or if it can ever be cured or just managed but for the next 30 days I will be on 20mgs. of Prednisone and then he will put me on a prescription that he indicated I would probably have to take until Jesus comes home... And you all know just how much I love to take drugs with no ending. However if it makes me feel more like my old self I will gladly take it.

My hip is still doing good after the last injection and now I know my liver hasn't rotted away and is something I can live with maybe the medicine I'll be taking will help get me back somewhere in the vicinity of feeling human again.

Pardon me while I wipe my brow and say"Phew! Thank you, Lord!" Now maybe I can shed the stress that has had me tied in knots, making me hurt and only want to sleep.

I've got to get out and take photos for the final farm report so I'll be back in a day or two. If I get my layman's interpretation of autoimmune cholangitis I'll share it with you.

The Debate Continues...

2011-08-05T21:52:00.002-05:00

Whoda thunk that grannie panties and Daisy Dukes would get such a discussion going? The reason for me breaking down and buying grannies is that when you get older and have a tendency to, well, ummm, how do I say this graciously... to leak a bit if you laugh, sneeze, cough and various other reasons... I just couldn't get myself to go commando. My bikinis that I have worn for years rode my hip in just the wrong place and were aggravating my aching hip. I fought it as long as I could stand but finally had to bite the bullet and buy the grannies. I can tell you that if you hurt bad enough you will do what is necessary to ease the pain.

It is true that I didn't have panty lines when I wore my DDs however... DDs tend to ride low on one's hips and unless you wear a t-shirt or blouse over them... the grannies show above the waist band of the DDs making me feel that I looked more like Erkel than just an aging Daisy Duke wannabe. Of course the t-shirts also cover the, ahem, muffin top around the top of the waist band or the love handles that also hang over the sides. I have never had to worry about my gams... I got someone else's legs. My brother has called them chicken bird legs among other things. Just being raised in a climate where shorts are more of a necessity as opposed to a luxury in the summertime I have all my life worn shorts and never paid much attention to how I looked in them until the GPs (Grannie pants so I don't have to keep spelling it out) problem. And to be real honest with y'all I mostly wore my DDs around the house and in the garden... not like going to the Golden Corral for the all you can eat buffet, although I have worn them to Lowe's to pick up paint or to visit the garden center and maybe to run to the WalMart for something I needed for right then, not for the whole food shopping thing. I didn't want to be in WallyWorld too long in case someone had the camera out looking for another one of our much loved WalMart shopper photos. And I must say even in my DDs I was dressed better than a lot of folks I saw doing their shopping... just sayin'.

I'll try to do some further clarification on this subject in another post. Just wanted to let you know that I'm enjoying all the chatter on this DD and GP subject. Goodnight and sleep tight... in grannies or whatever...

DumDumDaDumDumDaDaDumDumDaDum...

2011-08-02T22:40:00.006-05:00

This is a post that hurts my heart to write... It is an end of an era. It is an admission that I never thought I would have to make. As we grow older we have these revelations smack us upside the head, things we never thought would be revealed to us in our lifetimes. The layers of innocence that have been peeled away from me over the years have not prepared me for this last layer of innocence to be ripped from my very innards.

All my life I have been a people watcher. I've learned many valuable lessons from watching people and the most valuable lesson that I learned was that I didn't plan or wish to get old like a lot of the people I knew... I would see them in their old people clothes and make sure that I didn't shop in the matron areas of different department stores... I wouldn't be caught dead in those areas. I didn't feel old so therefore I refuse to dress old.

Now comes the end of an era... at least part of an era...

R.
I.
P.

M
y

D
a
i
s
e
y

D
u
k
e
s

They don't look like much laid out here on the bed but when I slipped them on and rolled up the frayed bottom into cuff, an attitude just automatically came over my body.

I was ready for anything and I was sassy enough to get whatever I put them on to do was gonna get done with FLAIR, baby. With pizazz!!!

There was just something for me about my Dukes. For one thing, not many people my age had the confidence, the balls to wear them. I thought nothing about it. I had my projects that I like to wear them for mostly as you can tell for painting jobs around the house.

Then the revelation... and realization. Somehow for me...Daisey Dukes and granny panties just don't jive. It is a totally incongruous juxtaposition in my mind, a total oxymoron and I just can't get my mind past it.

So it is with deep sadness that I'm putting my Dukes away... I can't just pitch them yet. They will go deep in the drawer to R.I.P. until I can either get rid of them or use them in some sort of craft thing or maybe just to stay there until I go up in the sky and they will be someone else's problem...

Damn It's Hot!

2011-07-28T19:42:00.003-05:00

Y'all are probably real tired of this heat song and dance... We were cooler today than yesterday however, 103 as opposed to 107 yesterday. All temps you read here are Fahrenheit because I was a generation late to learn Celsius as well as Fahrenheit and too damn lazy to remember the conversion ratio. All I know is the heat is wiping out our garden.

We are on water rationing and can only water every other day except on Wednesday and Thursday then no one is to water on those days. We can run the sprinklers on our day until 9 a.m. and after 6 p.m. We can hand water on any day if you can stand to stay out and water long enough to do some good. I got up yesterday at 7 a.m. to let the girls out and stayed up and watered and even did some weed eating around the fence and the trailer. I just am about to get on my own last nerve with being cooped up between the heat and the feeling lousy so I just said to heck with it and way overdid yesterday. I am paying for it today but the good news is that I think they finally got the injection in the right spot in my hip as I've been able to get up without the quick hitch of pain and trying to get straightened up to walk without looking like Grandpa McCoy... It is so nice to move without pain grabbing me.

So this is my basic report for today. It is also nice to WANT to sit down and drop you all a note so that is a good sign. Of what I'm not sure other than it is nice to want to do something.

Oh yes, I wanted to tell you that the cucumber that had hidden from me long enough to take on the reddish hue, for those of you that wanted to know, it had taken on a bit of a bitter, strong taste so it didn't make it into a salad.

You all try to stay cool... or stay warm for you all that are down under. Catch you next post!

Good News, Bad News...

2011-07-26T03:22:00.003-05:00

Today was the day I went to see the orthopedist for the results of my MRI. The good news is that there is NOT a tear in the cartilage like the nurse told me. I have a cyst. I was surprised by that and didn't think to ask how big the cyst was and was it in the cartilage. I have to assume that it was not at all big because he didn't say we need to get it out of there. He said we could try another injection or he could order an abdominal/pelvic cat scan to try to get a different look at the area to see if there was something else he wasn't seeing. I told him that they had done that test when they were first trying to figure out what caused the liver readings to go up. Since it was done at Norman Regional Hospital he said he could get those and go over them.

I told him that my GI had ordered a liver biopsy because, while two of the enzymes or whatever they are called had headed back down, the one the GI was concerned the most about had gone up some more. I told him that the GI had said this particular enzyme could be elevated by a problem in either the liver or bone and he said the name right off the bat. And naturally since I didn't write it down I can't remember what he called it but he is going to look at the lab results also. What we decided to do was inject me again because they obviously missed the hot spot the first time and I'm to call him after I get the liver biopsy results to remind him to pull those up and see if they might give him a clue as to whether or not it might be bone/hip related.

I told him that we needed to figure out something because I had to go buy me some granny panties because where my bikinis like I prefer to wear rode in the area of the hot spot and would often make the pain worse and I was too young to be having to wear granny panties. He and his PA that was in the room getting the shot drawn up both cracked up and she allowed as how she hadn't heard that term in a long time. You know me, when I'm fretting about something I have to pop a funny.

So not having a tear is good news but the bad news is I don't have a tear and don't know yet what is causing the pain so it is more hurry up and wait for the liver test results. So that is what we are gonna do. I told Carol that I've about had it with all this crap. I've been very cautious about how I walk, not carrying heavier stuff, not digging in the garden and I'm about to say screw it. If I'm hurting I might as well carry on with my life and do some of the things I haven't been doing but have been wanting to do. If I hurt, I hurt. If I hurt too bad I'll take pain drugs but I hate feeling useless and not making my keep around here.

So I'm putting all this on the back burner of my mind and all I'm going to worry about now is whether or not I'm gonna get my social security check next month. In fact I think, just for the hell of it, I'll blame all this crap on the politicians. After all they are the ones stressing me out now...

I'll keep you posted on it all.

Dag Nab It All...

2011-07-21T17:29:00.005-05:00

These are cucumbers that I picked a couple of days ago. The one on the left that is reddish looking had been hiding real good. I'm curious to see if it tastes 'woody' like okra that is too big. I'll let you know.

What I was dag nabbin' it all about was my GI. I called yesterday to make an appointment to find out the results of the biopsy and she made the appointment on Aug. 11th... I asked why so long because at the hospital they said the doctor would get the results in two to three days. The girl said 'oh they have to do several different stains for the tests the doctor ordered'. Well, bull pucky. I figure he's gone on his vacation and they didn't want to say that the doctor would be out of the office when they know they have a worried old crotchety woman on the other end of the phone. So no results until that time. My sister Sue, who is a pediatric nurse practitioner, said he must not be thinking it's the big C word or they would have expedited all of the tests so maybe no news is good news. That is how I've got to look at it to stay somewhat sane and not become a total blithering idiot.

Monday I go see my orthopede to find out options for the torn ligament in my hip so at least I can get something settled in my head about that and barring any other idiocies that my body decides to pull on me it will then be hurry up and wait for biopsy results.

It's hotter than the dickens here in Oklahoma... I know it's a good excuse to stay in but I'm getting cabin fever. I think today is the 29th day of +100 F. heat here in Oklahoma. Unfortunately the heat cap over Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, etc. is moving slowly, and I mean slowly to the east. Am I the only person that thinks our weather has gotten really wacky in the last 20 years? Used to be you'd pretty much know when spring, summer, fall and winter was going to come around. Now it seems like it's a crap shoot like this year we seemed to go from winter to summer with the early heat.

I'll try to come up with something other than medical ails and how hot it is on my next post. I swear I do have other things to talk about that are way more interesting. Thank you for hanging in there with me...

Done!!!

2011-07-19T18:12:00.003-05:00

My liver biopsy is done, done, done and it turned out to be much less of a deal than what I had imagined in my imaginative mind. I got to the hospital early for my 9 a.m. appointment. They got me registered, identity bracelet and paperwork done then sent me to the lab because there were lab tests they needed done before the procedure could be done. Okay, I didn't expect that but blood draws had never particularly bothered me... until today.

I don't know if I drew a newbie phlebotomist, a young man, but it seemed my veins decided to duck and cover. He first tried on my right arm. No blood. So he tried moving the needle around in my arm, not a pleasant thing. He gave up finally on that attempt and I told him it wouldn't bother me if he wanted to try the veins in my hands. I'm one of those folks who have veiny hands and feet, so he tried on my hand. Nope, no dice. So a lady that I assumed was his supervisor came in and she tried my left arm. By this time I think every vein in my body was practicing the stop, droop and roll method generally used if your clothing catches on fire. No luck. She finally switched to the smaller needle called a butterfly that has a tiny plastic hose from the needle to the port where the put the tubes in to collect what they need. She went back to the back of my right hand and hit pay dirt or blood as it were...

I walked out of the lab to the waiting room with my right arm looking like a cotton freak had decorated it. It was kind of interesting seeing the looks of other patients waiting to be called in for their draws. Then the lady who would be my nurse for the procedure called me back to do her paperwork. We did all the questions, signings and all that stuff and she went on the computer to get the results of the blood work. It wasn't there. The last entry was back in March so she got on the phone and then ended up having to go to the lab to track my blood down. I just groaned. No way did I want to go through that again today. She found the blood and the results that she needed to continue the process. So away we went.

We went down to the lower level of the hospital, the nuclear medicine area, where they have the cat scans and MRI equipment, got me all set up for the cat scan including getting the medicine port in my arm on the first try, thank you Lord, and they got the cat scan photos they needed for the doctor to see where he wanted to go and get his samples. Then it was wait on the doctor while laying on that narrow table... about 15 minutes. Went right along with the rest of my morning. He was kinda cute though when he did get there... I asked him if he had a good lunch and he said actually he hadn't eaten yet but that oddly enough he usually has had his lunch by 11 a.m. because his day starts early but he had a couple of procedures before mine that took longer than expected. I forgave him... like I said he was kinda cute and not pretentious at all.

So I got my little shot of kickapoo joy juice, the doctor deadened an area on my side where he was going in for the samples, I drifted a bit and it was all done. I was carted to recovery where I finally got something to drink and then about an hour later they brought me lunch, a burger and fries and apple pie. I don't know if it was as good as I thought it was but after no food or drinks from midnight the night before, it tasted pretty dang good. They kept me in recovery longer than with most procedures, checking my blood pressure and other vitals every 15 minutes and checking the bandage that was on the area where the doctor went in for the biopsy to make sure there was no excessive bleeding. Finally they cut me loose about 3:30 p.m. It was a long day. I came home with instructions to do no lifting or straining for the next 24 hours which is obviously no problem for me. I'm to call my GI in the morning to make an appointment to get the results of the biopsy which should be to him by Friday at the latest so we have more waiting but at least I'm through the procedure.

Don't 'cha just love blow by blow medical procedure descriptions? I can guarantee it was more fun for you all than it was for me, until the blood draws were finished anyway. The rest was kind of interesting. Thank you for your good wishes, prayers and sending me the light. It went a lot easier than I thought it was going to go. As soon as I get the results I will share those as well.

Farm Report, Obit And Happy Flowers...

2011-07-17T15:45:00.015-05:00

Things are looking bleak for my 'good day' cucumbers. We are on our 27th day of + 100 F. heat and most days there has been at least a 5 to 10 m.p.h. wind to further dry things out. I tried to make sure that I was getting both the 'good day and bad day' plants the same amount of water but the way the 'good day' plants have faded I must have miscalculated. I'm still gonna pour the water to the 'good day' to see if I can bring it back because the first cuke that Carol found was very good flavor, not at all bitter and Carol is the connoisseur of cucumbers in this house. I enjoy them in salads but I don't have the discernment of flavors like Carol.
This poor brown twig is my wigelia. It couldn't withstand the heat. It is a first year plant, it even flowered for me but it was one the tail end of where our sprinkler range was and it got even less water than the good day cucumber, and this was the result of me being down or having doctor's appointments and not checking every day. Needless to say I repaired the cut hose and now can get water to the far end of the back yard but I'm afraid I'm too late for this youngster.

Now here are the 'bad day' plants. There are two of them that came up as opposed to three 'good day' plants and these are going nuts. They got more water due to the hose being okay where they were but I'm amazed at how many blooms and babies cukes are loaded on these two plants. So, Tipper, while my experiment with planting by the signs was flawed this year due to my health problems but hopefully if you do another experiment next year you will keep me in mind... after all, you got me back to blogging and I can't thank you enough for that.

The flowers on one of the bad day plants. The leaves are mostly looking good. There are a few burned up leaves but for the most part it is holding up good.

Be sure to drop by Tipper's blog, Blind Pig And The Acorn, to explore how other intrepid gardeners have done with their experiment. There's always good stories, good music and recipes.

The white cone flowers are loving the heat.

As are the pink cone flowers...

The plumbago and the yellow and white lantana are enjoying the heat.

I love the blue with the yellow and white...

And, of course, the sunflowers are loving the sun and the heat.

You know I'm not loving the heat. I have trouble dealing with it so I stay in most of the day. I go out and move the sprinkler around and go back in the house. Then later in the evening I do hand watering if it's needed. Carol gets up way earlier than I do and she goes out and waters early in the morning so that is probably why we've managed to keep the things alive that we've kept alive so we are a pretty good tag team when it comes to gardening. Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed this Sunday stroll. Come back and visit anytime.

Update And Update...

2011-07-13T18:39:00.002-05:00

The first cucumber... and I didn't find it. Carol was out in the yard and she checked out the vines and found this fat little guy. Being the size queen that I am you know I have to put something in the photo for you to be able to get an idea of the size hence the cellphone. Carol is cutting it up for salad so I will be able to give you a report on it's tastiness. This came off the 'bad day' vine which is probably triple the size of the good day vines now. I tried to make sure they were both getting the same amount of water but the only thing I can figure is I misfigured on that facet of their growing. We had 21 consecutive days of 100 F. heat or higher, only getting broken yesterday when we, thank God, got about 2 inches of rain. It has been hard getting water to everything on a daily basis. I have felt so punk that Carol has had to do the major portion of the yard with the exception of the garden and I have managed to go out and set the sprinkler and move it periodically. I've done some of the weeding and grass pulling but Carol has done a whole lot more and from her wheelchair... makes me feel pretty useless some days.

My liver biopsy has been scheduled. I'll go in on the 19th for the biopsy. I don't know how long it will be before I get results but I don't imagine more than a day or two. It's amazing what the medical people are capable of doing nowadays and I So know my GI is as anxious as I am to get this resolved. I don't think it's because I asked him where my kiss was before my colonoscopy... He told his nurse that was her job. You should have seen the look on her face before I cracked up. I just told him when I was there for my blood test results that I was ready to find out what was going on and he said, "So am I", so I know he's concerned and wants to get to the bottom of this liver business.

So you all know as much as I know now and it's all just a matter of hurry up and wait... but that's okay because I know you all are supporting me and standing with me. I can't tell you how much that means to me, nor can I thank you enough.

Lullaby

2011-07-09T23:18:00.009-05:00

I have been known over they years to write a bawdy ballad or change the words to a song to make a dirty ditty... The other night after finding out about the new baby and being unable to sleep I had words running through my head and finally got up, turned on the computer to put them down so I could share with you all my craziness. And a sign my head is getting better because I haven't done any creative, if crude, writing in quite a long time. So hopefully you'll get a giggle out of this little bawdy ballad... I was singing it in my head to the "Beverly Hillbillies" but you can just read it if you want. I don't want to push my insanity on anyone else. Hear now for your amusement, I hope, is the results of my 5 a.m. no sleep mind wanderings.

Jenny was out grazing and watching over the herd
When a stray little Jack came wandering up the road.
We don't know where he came from or where he had called home
So Merri put him in the pasture to get him off the road.

Jack is what we call him, he was as gentle as could be
but when he met sweet Jenny that was all his eyes could see.
We could see that she was eying him while munching on some grass
He ambled over to her and said you have a mighty fine ...

Home, that is, lots of grass, hay in the winter and cows to guard, too

Jack says you need some help a-guarding I think I'll stay a while
Jenny raised her head and I swear I saw her smile
They grazed together over here and then over there
Jack decided to show Jenny just how much he cared.

He'd rub up against her and she would walk away...
if nothing else he was persistent in in his own sweet jackass way.
He got her cornered, he thought, down beside the crick
He made his move, she wasn't ready and she kicked him in the...

Belly that is... didn't want to hurt him bad, just show that she was boss.

Nature finally won out and Jack, he had his way,
Had himself a grand old time out standing in the hay.
Up by the fence, over by the corral the two of them got wild
And 12 months later she welcomed her new child...

A jenny, that is, and special like her mom and a great addition to the cattle farm.

Good News For A Change...

2011-07-09T16:42:00.005-05:00

Back about a year ago I wrote a blog about bad hair day featuring a sweet little jenny and an ornery little jack that loved the jenny...

Although he was smaller than she anytime he had a chance to woo her he would give it the old college try and there was a lot of speculation whether or not it was going to be a successful mating or not since he didn't have a ladder and didn't have the best fit, if you know what I mean...

Got a call today from Bro and he said how about some good news for a change...

Welcome to the world this little jenny. She has her daddy's coloring and her momma's fixtures. I can't wait to drive out to my cousin's and get to meet her and take more pictures.

Yea for new life!!!

Blogging Friends Are The Best...

2011-07-08T17:32:00.005-05:00

I started on my reading tour this evening and the first blog I went to was overgoodground.blogspot.com . She always has a quote either under her header or just to the right side and today she got to me right off the bat with this quote...

"Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts."~Rachel Carson

I had said something in my post yesterday about the crap I'm slogging through but that I see things like the sunflowers in various stages and it lifts my spirits. After I had written yesterday's post I got a call from my orthopedist's office. They had me get an MRI on my hip Wednesday because the last injection I got for the bursitis didn't do much of anything so they wanted to make sure there wasn't something they weren't seeing. There was... I have a torn cartilage in my hip. My doctor is out of the country right now but I have an appointment July 25th to talk with him about my options. From what Carol's brother (who is an orthopedic surgeon) said it is probably something that can be repaired laproscopically (sp.?) and my brother, a family practice/e.r. doc, agreed. So it is another hurry up and wait but at least I know what not to do to keep the pain in the hip to levels that I can deal with... and one of them is to not mow the yard which is what I was doing when I flared up the hip this last time. I also have to be careful about lifting anything very heavy because the weight puts more pressure on the hip.

So that is why Farmlady's quote got to me right off. I think I'll have to steal it for my sidebar for a daily reminder and that is all the physical stuff I am dealing with right now. I don't want to dwell on all that so I will be looking for things to photograph and share to with you because it lifts my spirits. I also wanted to say to my blogging friends... you never know what you might write or the photo you post that may touch someone in ways that you might never know and to tell you how thankful I am for our blogging world.

Just Messing Around...

2011-07-07T14:47:00.016-05:00

I spotted sunflowers coming on out the back door and had to get my camera. I wanted to share the stages that I saw with you all. You know I'm stupid about growing things and that each stage is fascinating to me. You also know I haven't been inspired to do much of anything lately so I took this urge as a good sign...

Aleta, I know they are hard to see so I managed to get a close up on one of those shy little cucumbers so maybe if you see what you are looking for it will make it easier to find...

The little ones spring from the base of the flower and as they get bigger the flower part gets smaller and falls off, kinda like a baby's umbilical cord except no blood or labor pains for the flower, at least as far as we know.

I'm practicing with my focusing thanks to a friend in England that is encouraging me.

This is a sunflower bud... I was so excited, Caroline, to get those tiny hairs on the leaves covering the bud and peeling back to begin the reveal.

This bud is further along and you can start to see the swirls that are unfolding. Again, I was so happy to get the little hairs and the veins in the parts that are peeling back to free the sunflower inside. I don't think they are called leaves but I don't know what to call them so leaves it is until someone enlightens me.

And speaking of enlightenment...

This sunflower is seeking the light! Kind of like some of us trying to turn our face to the sun. I caught this flower coming out of it's shell in a manner of speaking.

This is a little more of a 'face on' photo. It is fascinating to me how the petals are peeling back a little at a time, kind of like peeking out at the world to check and make sure that it wants to come on out and share it's beauty with us mere mortals...

Caroline thank you for encouraging me over my focusing frustrations. Dar, thank you for posting your beautiful flower photos and making me want to share also.

God I love being alive to see these wonders... even with all the problems and fears I'm slogging through now I would not have wanted to miss this little series, tiny little moments of beauty that remind me to cherish life.

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

2011-07-05T16:48:00.001-05:00

No... Not the movie. My day.

Do you ever feel that you just can't catch a break (in a manner of speaking)?
I got up at 9 a.m. this morning after not getting to sleep until about 6 a.m. and got around to go to my doctor for my blood test results. Got in my truck and saw this split running across about a third of the windshield with decorative flares up and down. I got a rock chip in my windshield about a year ago and thought I'd get it glued one of these days. I keep my truck locked with the windows up and it got so hot that the windshield split from the expansion caused by the heat.

Great way to start my day. I went by the glass shop after the doctor appointment and it will be $165.00 to replace the windshield. Groan..... this will wait until next month. This is the ugly.

Now for the bad... The blood work was not wonderful. A couple of the liver enzymes had settled back down but the one the doctor is particularly concerned with is higher. So they are going to schedule a liver biopsy. I had hoped they would call this afternoon and tell me when they had the procedure scheduled but no word as of 5 p.m. I told them the first available appointment was fine with me, the sooner the better and less time to stress. It will be done by scope but they have to knock me out to do it and they only do it early in the day so Carol will have to get up and go with me so she can drive my medicated self back home. I will let you all know when they let me know because it has been so much less stress knowing you all are supporting me and lifting me up.

The good? How about some baby cucumber pictures?

Right there, just to the left and below the yellow flower. Lonicera, I'm going to have to practice the technique you told me about halfway holding down the shutter button but I think that will cure my focus problem. It was so hot outside when I took these just a bit ago that I had sweat dripping inside of 5 minutes.

Here's another baby... Both the good and bad day vines are loaded up with babies so it looks like we are going to have plenty of cucumbers to have in salad or put with onions in vinegar for a cool, crisp side dish if we don't want to make up salad.

If you get a chance drop over to Blind Pig And The Acorn and check out Tipper's blog. She's gotten me back to posting by getting me involved again this year in the good day, bad day planting experiment.

And thank you all again for helping me to realize that scary things shared become much less scary. I love and appreciate each of you for supporting me.

Farm Report... And Thank You...

2011-07-01T20:50:00.015-05:00

Tipper at The Blind Pig And The Acorn picked cucumbers for our planting by the signs for 2011'

My first baby cucumber! It's only about an inch and a half and still has it's bloom navel on it. If you haven't found the baby yet it is laying on the leaf under the big leaf on the left, just below the yellow flower that is peeking out.

I know if you can't see it you can hardly claim it's there but I will get a better photo in a couple of days when the baby grows a bit and I read about how to focus in closer on something behind or next to something bigger.

I love these little tendrils that these plants put out to be able to climb towards the sun. They start out in these little spring like coils and then start unfurling and going in search of support to help them in their climb.

They look so very delicate, these little gossamer strands, but they are very strong. If they get attached to something you'd rather they not climb on they are a force to reckon with all on their own.

This is the 'good' day plant that is the largest. The other two 'good' day plants are putting on blossoms.

Like this...

These little plants love our sandy, loamy soil here. That and I've been pouring the water to them. With the 100 F. and higher daily temperatures we've been having if we hadn't watered I'd have no farm reports or flower tours or anything to share with you all... other than my aches and pains.

These three are the 'good' day plants. They are putting on blossoms like crazy and growing by leaps and bounds.

This photo is of the two 'bad' day plants. I'm going to have to quit calling them 'good' and 'bad' day plants because these two 'bad' day cucumbers have almost caught up with the 'good' day plants.

Once again, I need to read the book on how to focus in on what I'm trying to particularly show off. As you can see the leaf that is pointed at us is very clearly in focus... the blossoms are, shall we say, in soft focus... like I would like if some one takes a picture of me to soften the laugh lines and crepe y, turkey neck...

This is one of four okra plants that we bought, the only one of four that survived... It's probably a foot and a half tall and I've been watching for the okra blossoms because they are beautiful and I like to share the pictures with those who can't grow okra where they live or haven't ever seen it grow. This plant was sneaky though... because I found THIS:
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The blossoms only last for a day once they are opened and so the mother of this okra must have done her thing on one of the two rainy days we had that I didn't go out and check the plant.

This pod has got to be a good 6 inches long... It was growing up next to the stalk under the wide leaves on the top and flat snuck by my inspections.

I love surprises like this.

And I love the support you all have given me after my last post. I won't say that I was surprised because I feel like I know each of you and if it weren't for the distances between us I would be comfortable sitting down and having a glass of iced tea and visiting the afternoon away at your home or mine... I will say that I don't have the words to say how much you touched my heart. I hesitate to put my worries out there because we all have problems to deal with and I hate to think I put out my problems to add to your problems. But I must say that I do feel lighter for having written the post. I have always been willing to share my friends problems because I feel I can be unbiased, but I've always had a hard time sharing my problems because of my own insecurities. You know, people won't care about what's going with me... I'm just a listener, not a talker.

Just please, please, accept my most profound thank you for your support. You all will get me through Tuesday and the unknown and I can only say thank you, thank you, thank you. Your support will help me hold my head high and be prepared for the good, bad, or the ugly and report to you on Tuesday evening. Prayers for good results please.... And Thank you all for being you. My Friends. I cherish each and every one of you even if you made me cry... Thank You for being there for me. I feel I don't have to go through these things by myself now and it takes so much of the stress off me. For that... one final THANK YOU to each and every one of you. I hope that I can be the kind of friends to each of you that you have been to me.

You can reach me at Llachi3@aol.com. P.S. I did the link wrong somehow. I'll fix it tomorrow. I've already taken my night meds and am correcting almost as much as I'm writing. Night All.

Let's Just Talk...

2011-06-28T21:41:00.003-05:00

I've referenced fighting depression but haven't said much about anything else that's been going on with me...mostly because I don't want to come off as a whiney butt. I've also been having physical issues as well as mental and it was something I thought would be a easy fix... a gall bladder. They did every test known to man, woman, or large dog and have decided that my gall bladder still works so now the hunt begins with the liver... since the liver enzymes were up and the gall bladder was working okay it wasn't the cause of the liver enzymes being up.

So Friday I will do blood work for the internist that I see on Tuesday, the 5th, to see if the enzymes are dropping back towards normal, staying static, or hopefully not risen even higher. If they are higher the doctor is going to want to do a liver biopsy. That is scary to me because of family history. My favorite aunt died of alcoholism and my Bro is an alcoholic although he has been dry for 17 years now. Yea, Bro!!!

I'm just blocking all this out of my mind or else I will make myself crazy with worry and that does no good. So now you know the back story to my wanting to just duck and cover. I do that when I worry...even when I'm trying not to worry. It's just if my liver is messed up I don't know what that entails. No one in my family, with the exception of my aunt ever had any liver problems and she lived in California so I wasn't around to see her deterioration and the whole thought of things unknown scare me.

I will keep you all posted. This is about as much as I've bared my soul to anyone or admitted that I'm somewhat nervous and afraid. I see the doctor next Tuesday so you all can think about this right along with me until then.

I will have another post in the next day or two because I spotted a baby cucumber that I need to take photos of for the farm report.

It's Farm Report Time Again...

2011-06-25T11:40:00.015-05:00

As you know, Tipper over at The Blind Pig And The Acorn is having another planting by the signs experiment. It's cucumbers this year in case you missed my first post.

Let's give the 'bad' day cucumbers a chance to be first for once. There are two plants that made it and are starting to grow pretty good despite being planted on the 'bad' day. I fight to keep the grass away so each time I go out I weed out a bit more. Don't want grass to get the water for the cucs now.

These are the 'good' day cucs. There are three and of the three there is one that is especially vigorous. They are sending out tendrils to climb the pickets and the plants themselves are about twice the size of the 'bad' day plants. I'm fighting the encroaching grass here also. It would help me out if we weren't having 100F. weather on a daily basis. Four of the last five days have been 100 F. or higher. That means it only cools at night to the high 70's of low 80's and since I'm one of those late sleepers it's pretty much hot and I only stay out a bit at a time.

The 'good' day plants are loading up with blooms. I'm looking forward to fresh cucumbers before long...

I found one almost bloom on one of the 'bad' day plants. It's in the center bottom third of this picture. Just to the right of the finger tip below my thumb... I won't tease anyone who doesn't see it but I will try to duplicate the photo when it is open so you can see where it is. I almost missed it and I was there, touching the plant!

For the fun of it I'm going to share pictures of some of the other stuff on our little piece of the world.

A sunflower Carol planted from seeds is just getting ready to share it's beauty with the world...

Two types of Mexican Blanket flowers. The big ones are new to us. The smaller pink ones we've grown before but the new ones are big in comparison.

This is a joyous little yellow flower in the coreopsis family.... I don't remember it's given name I just know it makes me smile... a lot.

This plumbago has proven to be just a delightful plant. It's light blue blooms seem to love the heat as long as it gets it's drink of water. We planted it close to a couple of yellow and white lantana and they look so good together. Again, please ignore the grass. We are working on it.

Here's the neighbor of the plumbago. This plant and one like it almost didn't make it through the first of the heat waves... but thankfully we were able to pour enough water to them because they are now blooming their little stems off. It's wonderful.

Last but not least for this post anyway... gotta have some red flowers here and there to brighten up my life. This lantana is such a wonderful color next to the green leaves.

I don't think I'll ever give up the fight to get back to my old self as long as I can walk out in my yard and see colors like all of these that lighten my heart.

Being in a garden is about as close as I think you can get to being next to God.

My Okie Mini-Schnauzer...

2011-06-12T16:10:00.008-05:00

You all know how I am about my furbabies... I think they are way smarter and cuter than most people's two-legged kids. I hadn't posted anything about them, or anything else it seems - lol, in a while but one of the latest antics has inspired me...

This is my gracious and beautiful Chloe Pearl. My little lady-like old dog. She could live anywhere, a mansion or a trailer, as long as mom is there.

Then we have the younger girl pupster...

SueSue Marie... the blonde schnauzer. The girl-just-want-to-have-fun pup. Throw something for me mom... a ball, a sock, a mean kitty toy... anything mom, please, please, please I want to play... Sissy's too old and won't play anymore, not that she ever did a lot but she used to chase me sometimes but now she mostly wants to sleep on the couch next to you and I want to play and play...

Except when it's hot...

Then I want to play for about two minutes and after that...

See this vent? It's in the middle of the living room floor...

(Disregard the dirty carpet... mom is past due for running the vacuum...)

This is a wonderful, cool metal vent on the a/c/ duct...

And THIS...

THIS is me... being an Okie Mini-Schnauzer, laying frog-dog style right on top of the a/c vent.

Hey! It's in the 90's out there...A girl has to know how to cool off with pizazz and in a hurry so's I can bug mom to play, mom, let's play, but in the house, c'mon mom put up that stupid machine on your lap and play with me...

That's all for today from the Okie mini-schnauzer... Keepin' it cool!

Farm Report Time...

2011-06-11T10:06:00.006-05:00

Once again this year Tipper over at The Blind Pig And The Acorn is having a gardening by the signs experiment. This year we are growing cucumbers.

This photo is of the good day cukes. Three of the five seeds I planted on the "good" day, May 16th, came up. Obviously the one on the right is the 'champeen' of this group so far. All the pictures in this post were taken on the 9th of June so this is about 3 weeks after they were planted.

These are the "bad" day cukes. They were planted on the barren sign of Sagittarius on the 18th of May, a couple of days after the "good" planting day.

As you can see only two of the five seeds sprouted and they are quite a bit smaller.

Of course, since it is difficult to tell size without some sort of reference, it is now time for the 'shoe' picture...

The 'bad' day cucumbers with my size 8/9 flip flop...

The 'good' day cucumbers with my other flip flop.

Please ignore the grass creeping into the photo. I'm working on it. This ground is one of my pocket plant areas in the yard and had never been tilled for garden area so it will have to be closely watched through the growing season but that will give me something to do with my hands...

Pulling the grass.

Thanks again, Tipper, for doing your growing by the signs experiment. Besides being very interesting it is also therapeutic for me. You need to go check out what's going on over at The Blind Pig And The Acorn. Besides growing tips for the garden you can hear some great music and try out some really good recipes and reading some fun and interesting stories.

Y'all come back now, ya hear!

I'm Not Dead...

2011-06-10T18:44:00.014-05:00

I'm just not alive but I'm working on it. I hate depression and fighting it gets more difficult as I get older.

Now that that is out of the way... I have been doing something besides vegging on FaceBook playing games. I planted a small garden...

Here are some potatoes and onions. We've already started eating on the onions, some sweet whites that I don't know the name of but they sure are good.

Baby jalapenos. I love the flavor and spiciness of jalapenos. I'm hoping that the docs figure out what is going on with my belly so that I can eat more of them without worrying about them jumping on my last pain nerve inside. I used to be able to eat them anytime, no worries, but the last six months it has been a crapshoot.

Bell peppers... one of Carol's favorite veggies. She loves green bell peppers. I like all of the bells and think all of them have very distinct flavor, the reds, yellows and orange as well the green.

We have also planted four tomato plants and Carol planted some squash and green beans in the infamous yellow tubs that we had such good luck with in the past. I went from almost three acres to play and plant on year before last to last year's large garden at my cousin's to this year.

A small garden, little what I call "pocket gardens", raised beds, and our tubs. I can't say as I mind having less space to tend as it has been very hot already in Oklahoma and it's not even legally summer yet.

These raised beds I made a couple of months ago with 2X4's that I had bought to build a picket fence around the front part of the trailer to match the one I built off the back door side of the trailer. The management said I couldn't put fence all the way around our trailer so we have a couple of raised beds. I'll be nice and not tell you what I think about that decision.

You can see a bit of the picket fence in this picture of the sunflowers that Carol planted in a little pocket garden spot. You can also see the ramp I built for Chloe to the back porch. She has been having some problems with the steps, the shorter in stride they are the harder it is for her to get up them. She is in good health still so I did for her what I hope someone will do for me someday... made her life a little easier. I do get teased for it by my family, but they love me despite my peculiarities where my pups are concerned.

One of our neighbors, when we moved into this trailer park, was a tree cutter/trimmer. We got a bunch of pine stumps and used them on the front porch side to make a little barrier to have a place to stash the shovels, rakes and hoe or to sit and take a break without being right out by the cars. We started a bit of a shade garden since the trees in our front are volunteers that were never properly ripped out or tended to. And there had to be a flamingo for me.

This small, long flower bed is on the east side of our lot. You can see the two volunteer trees and the stump and the stump barrier on the right. This area is our front and side yard. The good thing is not much area to mow and by this time next year we hopefully will have even less to mow. Carol and I are both proponents of the English style garden where all the yard is flowers and plants. Carol because she loves the flowers and me because I don't like to mow behind a push mower, power or otherwise, and the property is really not big enough for our rider.

This little plant got me to get the camera out to go on this little tour of the plantation. I didn't know that hens and chick type succulents had flower spikes with little blooms on them. This is as full open as I've seen these little blooms. I don't know if they open like a little flower or if this is the only way they grow. I figured if I hadn't seen bloom spikes like these there was probably some other gardener out there that hadn't seen anything like them either.

This other little bloomer I hadn't seen before either. It's another simple succulent that is in the same container as the previous photo. Maybe the copper from the pot gives them some type of mineral or something that encourages the little ones to bloom... who knows?.

I just know that these kind of surprises give me hope that tomorrow will be better. Sometimes the least little things give us hope that the sun will shine again inside us.

This photo is just 'cause I liked it and wanted to share.

Keep me in your prayers, okay?

Tomorrow... a farm report on this years seed trial. Thanks to Tipper at the Blind Pig and The Acorn I'm doing this year's planting by the signs. We are doing cucumbers this year and I'll be posting my first report tomorrow.

Thoughts Of A Lady In Waiting...

2011-05-11T16:35:00.000-05:00

And I use the term 'lady' loosely since I'm the 'lady' in the title. Now to explain...

I had a colonoscopy today and while waiting my turn in the line up I got to thinking about all things related to the procedure. First off, who thought this up in the first place and whatever drew the person in question to the interest in this part of one's anatomy. Had they been a spelunker in a former life or did they just like to explore dark caves for a hobby in this life? Are the doctors that specialize as G.I.'s just enamored over the idea of going places that no man, or very few men, have ever gone before... I mean, face it, that is just not a very interesting landscape or moonscape, as it were, to most people in this world.

And don't you think that there ought to be some sort of mood music playing while you wait to have your innards perused? Perhaps something like the theme from 'Star Wars', a reference again to going where no man has ever gone before. And I think they, the owners of the endoscopy services, ought to hire someone to be on duty to kiss you before the procedure for obvious reasons... I wouldn't ask for a cigarette afterwards because I quit smoking a number of years ago but for those who do choose to still smoke I think it would be appropriate to have an area for such purposes. No, I wouldn't ask for sweet talk as that might be considered being too demanding.

And, finally, the scheduling staff shouldn't book so many appointments per day so that if the doctors that are preforming the procedure get backed up, pun intended, some idiot like me won't have to wait so long and have the time to think stuff like this up. And this is but a smattering of the thoughts that played ping pong in my head while I was waiting for my exam.

Wouldn't you all like to play in my head some days?

P.S. I forgot to tell you that the doctor did dispel one popular rumor... my head is not, I repeat, is not up my butt all the time...

I Miss My Little Momma

2011-05-08T21:46:00.004-05:00

My little momma. I loved her more than my life. Anything she wanted I wanted to try to do or get for her.

Mom looked after not only me but also my five siblings and taught us so much of the good things we are. Respect not only your elders, but also yourselves. To treat others better than you expect them to treat you. Always try to see the good side of people even if you have to search real hard. She was always a positive person and the only person I ever knew that could settle my daddy down when he got on a tear. She loved us, she protected us and she paddled us if need be.

Mom was a stay at home mom and was always there to comfort us if we got hurt, to rejoice with us if we did good and remind us to stay the honest path.

I love you Mom and miss you more that I can ever say...

Vacations, Part Two...

2011-04-10T19:29:00.006-05:00

This was one of the places that I enjoyed most on one of our trips. This would have been about 1955. We were at Petrified Forest. Aunt Annie, my daddy's sister, is standing on the left. She went with us on a number of trips. For years I thought she went to help keep us heathens rounded up but she really did love to travel. Whenever we would stop to stretch our legs, eat a bite by the road or take a bathroom break, in our walking around the area if Aunt Annie saw a little cactus or another kind of plant she would dig it up and stash it in a corner of the trunk or where ever she could find a little spot so's she could take it home and add it to her garden. I think she planted the seeds of the joy of growing stuff in me way back then. It just took a lot of years to come to fruition.
My baby brother is next to her, then my sister and me were sitting up on top of the petrified stump.

My mom, me and Ben, the baby brother, throwing rocks at a stop. I think this was at Painted Desert. We all would take every advantage of stretching our legs. Imagine being in an early Fifties car, probably about this time is when we had a '52 Hudson, and there being seven people in the car. I remember being on my knees in the back floorboard and laying on the back seat to take a nap. I slept really good that way and I didn't fall over against my brother or sister and get rudely awakened. My daddy was in his element with telling us all about what ever place we were visiting. He and momma both loved teaching us about different things in life but daddy, particularly, loved being outdoors and seeing all the different places. It was one of the major reasons why all us kids hoped to live until we were old enough to drive. Our daddy was the original rubber-necker, looking at birds here and trees or flowers over yonder and scaring the beJesus out of anybody in the car with him. We joked about mom and dad having six of us kids so at least some of us would live long enough to drive them where ever they wanted to go as they got older. I think it took momma all of one trip whenever we got a new car to make an imprint in the floorboard where she would try to brake whenever daddy was driving.

Another photo in the Petrified Forest. Ben and sister Sue standing in front of a huge base of a tree. It was extraordinary to see these incredible trees that were once wood and had been laying around in this world so long that they were turned into rocks. I have been fascinated with stones since that time... not enough to become a geologist but to enjoy and appreciate all different kinds of gemstones that I enjoy using to make jewelry. They don't even have to be expensive stones, just the beauty of them, the different colors you can see in each rock... this intrigue was born in me in the stones we saw in the Petrified Forest.

Here's my Bro, Walter, my middle brother posed for this photo somewhere in the southwest... I think again at Painted Desert. Unfortunately these photos I found while I was scanning a box of pictures was neither dated nor were there any captions of locations. I know that on this trip we managed to stop at the Petrified Forest, the Painted Desert and the Grand Canyon but I'm doing the educated guess thing at some of these pictures. An anecdote about the Bro... he was being a smart mouth about something, teasing one of us other kids and mom reached back to the backseat to backhand him to get him to straighten up... he ducked and
Sue got it right in the kisser. What you need to understand is momma would never have slapped any of us. She wasn't opposed to bustin' our butts but she, as far as I know, never slapped any of us and the backhand that was directed at Bro was one of those off hand, half way knuckle thumpers to get his attention. Mom was almost embarrassed when Sue got it. Of course Bro and the rest of us got a big laugh and Sis wasn't hurt, just surprised.

These are but a few of the things that I remember about one of our trips. We had more adventures when we would go to California because when we went to Tennessee for reunions we had friends and family in Arkansas to stay overnight with and then we would stay with one of our aunts and uncles. There were lots of stories to tell about family reunion trips but I just got started on the trips out west so that's where this post took us. The main thing to me was it was undivided, for the most part, family time. I've always had more fun with my parents and my siblings than most anybody else. I've taken trips with friends and significant other people in my life but for rib tickling, rollicking fun and teasing and good times... for me it was all about family.

Vacation Thoughts...

2011-04-09T21:14:00.002-05:00

While I was sitting here watching T.V. and messing around on the computer a commercial caught my attention and set me to thinking. The ad was about the parents surprising the kids with a trip to Disney Land. The children, I think there were three, were jumping up and down or looking in disbelief at their folks wondering if they were really telling the truth.The narrator was talking over the clip about while it's great to surprise the kids with the trip and enjoy the experiences with them, he also was saying that the kids were going to grow up in no time and no parent wants to miss anything about their children growing up. Y'all know the sales pitch and the 'guilt' trip...

I started thinking about the trips we went on growing up and the difference between my generation and today's generation. First off I don't ever remember taking a 'vacation'. We went on family trips every summer it seems. Most times we went back east to Tennessee for family reunions but occasionally we would head out west to California to visit mom's sister and her family. Now one of the things about going on trips back in the Fifties was motels were virtually non-existent. There were motor hotels which were cabins with a carport between each one that the tired traveler could park their car in out of the weather and handy to load and unload the things needed each night. And dad would start looking in his John Brown College directory of alumni for JBC folks along whichever route we were taking to California, the southern route or the northern route. He would call and find out who might be home and able to take in our family which, depending on which of us kids were making the trip, might be able to put us up for the night. A lot of times our Aunt Annie would go with us so there might be as little as four or five
or as many as eight of us. I remember meeting a lot of really nice families, a number of whom we would put up for a night or two when they were taking trips so it was not just bumming a place for the night for mom and dad. Momma always made sure that we helped pick things up and make up the beds or pallets us kids might have slept on and put the house back in order and always there was an open invite that anytime they might travel to Okla. City area they must come and stay with us and allow us to return the hospitality.

The big commercial place we went to was Knott's Berry Farm. It was very interesting and, yes, we were all excited, but all us kids loved going to places like the Grand Canyon and the Painted Desert, or going to see the sequoia trees and the Petrified Forest. Another really big memory for me was driving the California coast highway. Or the time we had to plan to drive through Death Valley at night when it was at it's coolest. We made sure to fill the heavy canvas water bag that was hung from the front grill and bumper in case the car overheated and boiled out the water. Didn't want to get trapped in Death Valley, don't you know. A lot of times we would stop along the side of the road and buy fresh veggies and fruits from the farmers that had stands along the way. If they had an old wood picnic table by the fruit stand a lot of times we would take a break and eat our fresh bought tomatoes, apples and peaches or plums and momma and Aunt Annie would make up sandwiches for us and daddy would buy us pops to drink or lemonade if the folks sold it with their other foods. Momma, after having six of us heathens, always had a little something stashed to avoid the whines of I'm hungry, let's stop. Daddy always had an idea about how far he wanted to go each day and where he wanted to stop for the night. It wasn't too important unless we were staying in someone's home and then it was very important so's not to put folks out that were kind enough to put us up.

Anyway, the point I'm working up to is the things I remember most about our trips was the time spent with mom and dad and hanging out with my sibs and teasing each other and exploring new places or walking the beach picking up shells. It wasn't buying souvenirs although I'm sure we bugged mom and dad or Aunt Annie to buy us this or that, it was doing the family things and meeting new friends and seeing incredible places that would just hold us spellbound.

I'm getting tired so I'll pick this up again tomorrow.

Just A Snippet…

2011-04-03T19:54:00.002-05:00

Sometimes when you really don’t have anything to do… Read the program guide on the T.V. For some reason this cracked me up…

Then take a photo and put it on your blog… umm humm.

Too much time on my hands?

Whew...

2011-04-01T20:44:00.002-05:00

I'm here to tell you that introspection is tough. I've been feeling really bad for the last couple of weeks. I've been through bronchitis and dealing with what seems to be the latest vampire pit stop with different blood tests checking for different ailments, numerous gall bladder tests, chest x-rays and other miscellaneous b.s. that the doc thought up to try to figure out why I've been feeling like a truck ran over me. Let's face it... it's too dang much when you tell Smiley at the lab to draw out of your right arm because they just took an i.v. needle out of your left arm a couple of days before. Not trying for sympathy or anything with the telling of this tale, simply leading up to my revelations.

As some of you know when you are not well or feeling just like the dickens, whatever the reason, we get to being retrospective. Sometimes it's a good thing to do and other times it's just because our minds get to running in circles and don't have sense enough to light down someplace. I decided, with all the lucidity of what little brain cells I have that are still active, that contrary to popular belief... 60 is not the new 40. Not unless you feel a hell of a lot better than I do. Somebody is doing a really big sales job.

The "Golden Years" are gold, alright. They are gold for the doctors. I have had in the past two weeks, three blood draws, two i.v.'s hooked up for two different tests and one ultrasound that didn't have any involvement with needles.. yea. I don't even want to think about the bills that are going to come in after medicare takes care of what little they do pay. And the worst part is the last two days I've felt like crap in a different way than when I talked to the doctor and all this testing stuff got started.

This has gone a totally different direction than when I first started writing this post. I didn't mean to turn this into a total bitch session. I would just like to feel halfway human again. To not be worried about getting in the car and driving for an hour to go visit my cousin and my brother or to jump in the car and drive for three hours to visit family in Ft. Worth. So I'm going to shut this post down and re-contemplate what I was going to write originally.

Next post will be lighter. I promise.

Oh, and so far everything is negative...

It's Official...

2011-03-17T20:16:00.003-05:00

In my mind at least it's spring in Oklahoma, even though it's not March 21st yet. Today it got up to almost 90 F. In the house. Yep. It signals the heat coming to Oklahoma when you go to turn on the A.C. and it doesn't blow cold and you know you live in Oklahoma when you have the A.C. repair people on speed dial.

Another official sign in our house is when I get the "change out the seasonal clothes" attack. I packed up everything that might keep me warm, put it in the storage building and brought all the clothes that only keep me from being arrested for running around with nothing on because I'm so hot I can hardly stand it.

And the last official sign at my house... It's time to either shave my legs for the shorts or braid it and try to sell it as the new "in thing" to do.

Love you all... welcome to spring in Oklahoma.

An Indelicate Question....

2011-03-08T17:31:00.004-06:00

Where, oh where, please tell me does it all come from? I thought I was going to be able to head it off at the pass but it snuck up on me from behind...

Sinus infection that went into bronchitis. Someone turned on the faucets in my nose. When the cedars start blooming, along with the other trees that spring forth in the spring around Oklahoma, I'm always taking preventative measures to avoid going into full blown bronchitis and had been doing a pretty good job until Friday. Then I was slammed. I woke up with a jello head and a voice that was not my own... a gravelly, crud laden, slowed version of my normal speech.

Yep, the dreaded sinus infection from spring blooming things, especially red cedar. By Saturday the coughing had kicked in, I was wiped out just getting from the bedroom to the living room to eat and mess on the computer for a bit before crashing back into the bed for a nap and starting the routine all over again.

On Monday, instead of going to meet a blogging buddy that I've never met... I was running fever and looking so bad that a neighbor stopped by for a visit looked at me and said, Helen, you look sick... Good observation! Laura, my apologies darlin' but you wouldn't have wanted me to come and possibly share this with you to take back to the babies. And I felt so bad that I couldn't find the phone book so's I could call you and apologize like a normal, sane person would do, but I was neither normal or sane because I told Carol to just shoot me and tell God I died. She just looked at me and said, "Don't you think you ought to call your doctor?"

I did and I was able to get in the next morning, Tuesday. I told him what was going on and about being so wiped out even before I got sick. I said it felt like the air I was breathing wasn't being assimilated into oxygen for my body. I'm pretty much wiped out if I do the least thing and I'm really good at doing the least thing... So he ordered chest Xrays and blood work, wrote me 3 prescriptions, one of which was not covered by insurance and cost me $70 dollars, thank you very much, and I went next door to the hospital and got all that stuff done and went home and fell in the bed and slept, more like crashed, for four hours, just from being out of bed for four hours doing doctor and testing stuff. I have nothing in my tank right now to bounce back with and haven't for about a month.

The doctor was true to his word and called me yesterday with test results... my chest xray was good and all my labs were good... except for my liver enzymes with one being particularly high and he asked if I still have my gall bladder. Yep, I do and had had a couple of attacks in the past month. So I'm going in the morning for a gall bladder ultra-sound. I've been through this dance before, twice over the years, but they've never found any stones. So I put up with attacks once or twice a month for probably ten years... HOWEVER... I've never had anything show up in lab work so I will probably end up having gall bladder surgery since it seems to be sending up flares now. Frankly if it helps me to get some energy back it would be worth it. I mean, spring is fast upon us and I'm ready to play in the dirt... if I could only lift a cultivator fork and a shovel to make a new veggie bed.

Okay, my indelicate question... where in the world does all the snot come from... I have blown, literally, through 2 boxes of Kleenex and how can you lose half your body weight in snot and not have it show on the scales... Oops, that's two indelicate questions. How can we produce that much liquid out of our nose and throat in that short of time? That's three... I better quit now.

Aging Happens...

2011-03-01T20:34:00.005-06:00

I have been told more than once that I'm not aging well. I beg to differ. Every part of my body is aging well. All my life any endeavor I've opted to do or any job I've been given I try to do my best to do it very well or to not to do it at all. Our parents drummed pride in a job well done into us all our lives.

They didn't try to tell us what to do with our lives, well, most of us they didn't try to tell what to do. The stubborn 5th child, a girl child, moi, wanted to be an artist. My father wouldn't hear of it. No daughter of his was going to be an artist... it was too bohemian a lifestyle. I was to work for a company if I wanted but his main desire was for me to get married and birth babies. I think that was the one job given me that I not only didn't do well... I didn't do at all. It was one of the few blowouts I had with my father and it's a story for later.

But back to my aging well, contrary to popular belief. If you look at photos of a person through the years you see the changes that are related to the teens, twenties, thirties and so forth. In the teens, at least in my teens back in the day, we walked tall with straight backs and dutiful strides from class to class. In the twenties, college for some, jobs for others and a busy straight forward time for learning whatever one wanted to do for a career, well, except for me because I still don't know what I want to do, busy dating trying to find that special someone with which we would want to share our lives with, going on weekend jaunts to the lake to play like there was no tomorrow to impress whomever we were trying to convince we or they were worthy of our attention. At this time in my life I was fairly fit as all my life I have been physically active.

Then the thirties... life started interfering with all the fun activities that helped keep me fit. Things like working for a living because it was way past time to cut the umbilical cord and I wanted to buy my own cars and whatever toys I wanted in my life, my guitar, stereo and all the things that made my home a home to me. Looking back I can now see
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Do you ever get hit with postus interruptus? I started on this post a several days ago then got distracted and I can't for the life of me remember what it was I could see looking back. I know what I wanted to write about when I started the post, which was bitching about aging, but when I came back to the draft and got to that line, I have no inkling of where I was going with with the rest of the post.

So y'all get to speculate along with me on what I can see looking back... and if I think of it I'll finish this post down the road. And the day this is posting is 3/7/2011, the draft was started on 3/1/2011.

Some Things Do Work!!!

2011-02-28T12:25:00.006-06:00

I've been having a problem with some of the keys and the spacebar on my computer. I've had to go back and correct things I typed way more than usual and I was getting out of sorts with my purple laptop and then I thought to myself, "Self... you eat at your laptop, you pet your girls next to you with your laptop on your lap, you have even been known to eat cookies with your laptop in your lap! Do you think you might need to do some cleaning?"

Sure enough I got to looking and I could see crumbs and lint and a tadpole (just kidding about that one) so I got out the spray can of air and commenced to giving my beautiful computer a blow job... but like a lot of things in my life it didn't take care of the problem.

Light bulb moment!!! Back several years ago I bought one of those sets of little vacuum look alike tools that are supposed to be very helpful at cleaning computers, vcr.s and whatever other small stuff you want to clean.

After I took this photo it dawned on me that I should have tossed a quarter down with these tools so you would have a size comparison but you know what they say about hindsight... And laziness in my case because I could have set it up again and re-shot the picture, but I didn't so use your imagination...

The tool on the left is the one you put on the hose of the vacuum to size down to the other tools. I'll just say that the three little ones on the right are probably no more than a couple of inches long.

So I got out my handy dandy baby shop vac that I bought myself for my birthday, got the tools out (believe it or not I knew right where they were) and put my $4.95 purchase to the test. I got cookie crumbs enough to equal maybe a small package of cookies (not really) and way more lint and dust than I'd find in my bellybutton (really).

Can I just say, boy, they were worth the price.

My elevator may not go all the way to the top some days but my computer keys go all the way to the bottom now.

Spring’s Promise…

2011-02-27T13:15:00.001-06:00

As winter wanes and the days start getting longer I seek out images of past springs to lift me up and lighten the dark of depression. Just thought I’d share a few with you all.

Happy Sunday!

I'm Tired Of Looking At A Weather Update...

2011-02-24T21:11:00.010-06:00

So I thought I'd play catch up.

Yours truly and the baby brother. This was taken in the master bedroom of the home that we were raised in. Bennett would have been about 3 and I would have been about 6.

Continuing on...

This photo was taken after we got home from a trip to California to visit relatives in Santa Monica. We also went to Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco... check the hat.

This was, I believe, in the summer of 1955. I would have been 10 and Bennett would have been 7.

Moving right along...

This picture was taken later in the summer after we had gotten back from our California trip.

We were at Turner Falls, outside Davis, Oklahoma, a place we have enjoyed a number of times over the years.

This picture was taken on our birthday, yes both our birthdays, in 1960.

If you don't remember or missed the posts where I've talked about it, my baby brother was born on my third birthday, a Friday the 13th. I've teased him that it took me years to decide that the 13th was good luck.

As you can see from this picture, for a lot of years momma made our birthday cakes... in the shape of hearts because we were born on the day before Valentine's Day, me in 1945 and Bennett in 1948.

Our friends, Ronnie Friend and Selene Main, and two of our nephews and a niece were there to enjoy the cake with us. We have tried over the years to celebrate our birthday together but this year it didn't happen. The weather was bad a few days before and I was not comfortable to make a quick trip.
Bennett only had a couple of days off from work and he has been working a lot of extra time and I felt he would be better served relaxing and not worrying about entertaining me on a short break. So we will enjoy playing catch up on our birthday on a later trip but I wanted you all to know what has been happening the last couple of weeks.

Celebrating my non-birthday birthday because I didn't feel like having a birthday this year. We did go out to my choice of restaurants for dinner... bar-b-que, mmmm good and Carol cooked my request for a birthday cake, chocolate pound cake. My sister and her SIL and BIL came up from Texas on Monday to go check on another brother-in-law that is in the hospital and she bought my lunch at an old hamburger joint in Shawnee, Oklahoma, and we went from lunch up to Cuz's place in the country to visit with our cuz Carol and our brother Walter. We had a really good visit and Walter had cooked a ham and fixed soul sweet potatoes, Spanish green beans, home made bread and a rum cake for our supper and my late non-birthday supper. I was so full from eating everything that I didn't even have room for a piece of the rum cake.

So next year I'll get back to celebrating birthdays but this year the birthday didn't excite me so I decided that I'm old enough to decide whether to have a birthday or not and this past year hasn't been the most wonderful of my life so a non-birthday was my choice and it turned out pretty darn good.

Soon I'll be able to start digging in the dirt and that is always the way to soothe the savage beast in me. Thanks for hanging in with me. It's got to get better!

This Just In...

2011-02-09T09:48:00.003-06:00

From the extreme weather desk...

It's 9:45 in the morning and the temperature has dropped from 10F. to 9F. with a wind chill of -15F. as I was writing the first line of this short update...

I think I'll head back to bed.

More on the storm later. Stay off the roads and stay inside unless you'd like a facial peel compliments of Mother Nature.

I'm Not Real Sure...

2011-02-08T13:49:00.004-06:00

But I think, after years of praying for them to go away and leave me alone, I think I sort of just a little bit maybe prayed for...

A HOT FLASH!

I have been so cold during all this winter weather that all I have wanted to do is stay under my electric blanket with my dogs snuggled around me. I got to thinking about it and for the past five or six years all I have done is gripped about being so hot even my eyelids were sweating from my personal power surges. I mean I haven't felt being cold like this for years. So maybe, just maybe, my temperature level is getting back to normal.

Or at least heading to a new normal.

Meanwhile back at the weather front... we are expecting snow to start anytime and are headed towards 8-12 inches of snowfall, two to four foot snowdrifts and more extremely cold temps the next two day for us Okies... which mean a lot of you east and north of us will be getting it next.

I'm sure ready for spring. Just sayin...

No Photos Of This Snow...

2011-02-03T18:43:00.015-06:00

I did get out with the girls yesterday and while I was walking them (and trying to stay on my feet) I was looking for photo ops. I don't know if I was just being too picky or being truly objective but other than seeing a woodpecker on a tree I didn't see anything I wanted to waste my pixels on... In fact, I think this is just a very frigid, very dry and very uninspiring snow. The snow was so dry and the wind so high that it bared the limbs of the trees and the snow even failed to stick in the beautiful whorls of bark that I had dreamed would be enhanced by the white crystals nestling in the crevices... a dream that was simply just that, a dream.

So I decided to post some photos of former snow storms just because I don't like to disappoint anyone and since I said I was going to hunt for photos to share I'll do just that. Except I'll hunt and find them in my old photos.

This tree was in the backyard of our next door neighbor in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.

Ice hanging on the eaves of our home in Bartlesville.

A Christmas deer taken during one of our deeper snows in Bartlesville.

Out in the pasture of our home in the country out from Noble, Oklahoma.

A decorative cabbage photo taken in Ft. Worth during one Christmas visit.

A palm that I took photos of the same Christmas I took the cabbage photo.

The palm didn't survive through this unusually cold winter.

A decorative garden ball that has moved with us so I could have taken it either in Bartlesville or in the country outside Noble.

And probably my favorite photo, a river birch in our backyard in Bartlesville. Give you an idea of why I was staking out trees with good bark to photograph.

I did get out in the truck today. I needed to go pick up a prescription for Carol and dog food for the girls and a prescription for myself. I consider myself a pretty good driver and a very patient driver in snow. I don't get in a hurry and rarely have a problem unless there is something unseen that moves me out of the ruts, especially when it has been as cold as it is now and the snow isn't melting... but I did manage to get stuck in the WalMart parking lot. How freakin' embarrassing is that to admit?!!! Fortunately a couple of young men in a big pickup saw my dilemma and pulled me out. I did have to tell off on myself when I got back home.

Just keeping it real, y'all. Stay warm and try to keep it on the road and out of drifts!

No Photos Yet...

2011-02-02T13:41:00.003-06:00

The sun is shining and it looks beautiful outside but the truth of the matter is it is 14 F. with a wind chill factor of -3 F. I haven't sucked it up enough to go outside with the camera.

Status of the house... I called a neighbor and she came over and shoveled and brushed the snow away from the front door. The storm door wasn't frozen shut, the snow had drifted up enough when the wind was so bad that it was too heavy to budge. After I was able to get out I went around and cleared the back door. I took the girls out with me and they bucked and played and peed and pooped... all in about 5 minutes. The wind chill was about -10 and SueSue was the first one back to the front door and she is usually the last one wanting to go back into the house.

I took this picture with my computer camera. Suess has decided the best place to be is on the back of the chair and on my shoulder looking out at the snow rather than being in it.

Chloe is asleep on the other half of the love seat. She has been real content to stay in the warm house on the love seat against the other arm or she'll move over next to me every now and then and snuggle up to get close to momma.

Okla. City set a new record for snowfall in one day... 12.8 inches. We are now dealing with what the weathermen are calling a 'ground blizzard'. There is no more snow falling from the sky but the temps are so cold that the snow was very dry and the winds still are kicking up the drifts enough that there are patches of white outs across the roads so they are still warning people to stay off the roads if at all possible. Also I learned that the Artic air that has settled on us does not react to sunshine like other snow storm air. I haven't yet learned what makes Artic air different than, say, Canadian or Alaskan air that allows the sun to warm us some but hopefully the weatherman will address that during one of his segments on the news this evening. Anyone of you know the answer, please feel free to enlighten me. This old dog can still learn new stuff.

Well, if nothing else this weather has at least gotten me back on the computer writing something again. I figure it's easier writing this once on here so friends and family members know we are okay than writing 4700 e-mails... so there is a method to my madness. And I'm remembering it is kind of fun and it is nice to have a little fun for a bit. I'd kind of forgotten that aspect of blogging.

You all stay warm and safe and I will get out and get some photos to share.

We Have...

2011-02-01T09:45:00.002-06:00

Heat, we have internet, we have power. We also can't get out of the house. Both doors are frozen at the bottom from the rain and sleet that came before the snow. I'm going to work on the back door so at least I can let the girls out to tend to business but I may have to try to call someone to at least come get the door unfrozen.

The wind is strong enough to be blowing the snow horizontally and I know there are pictures just waiting to be taken out there of drifts and snow caught in wonderful designs in tree bark and shrubs and such. While I don't care for the cold blowing up my drawers I do want to explore the beauty of this winter storm. We don't usually get anything resembling a 'blizzard' nor do we often get any more than 4 - 6 inches of snow at one time in a winter. We may have several snows but they generally are not very heavy at all. I always say I like ONE good snow a year, I don't like ice storms that break up the trees and I don't like the temperature or the chill factor headed towards zero.

What I do love is the pristine beauty of the new fallen snow, the clarity of the blanket of quiet on the earth, the quiet that is a music to my ears from the cacophony of every day life. There is such a gentle melody to the quiet that soothes my seasonally affected soul and sings to me of the life that will be pushing it's way out of the ground, the flowers on the trees that only now need a little sun to break free of the tight, hard husks that protect them from the frigid temperatures.

Snow is that event, to me, that portends the coming of spring. Snow gives me hope that I've made it through another dark season and before long my heart will be singing as I get my hands in the dirt and start tending to a garden, planting things I want to eat fresh that I have tended, and flowers that delight me with their beauty.

Snow is hope for the new year to be better than the one I'm really glad to be leaving behind.

Ready Or Not...

2011-01-31T19:29:00.006-06:00

Here it comes... or so the weathermen are saying. These photos are from the snowstorm Christmas Eve of 2009. I was in Ft. Worth and it was so incredibly beautiful. My baby brother and I were out in the driveway and yard taking pictures at one in the morning...

Diane, my s.i.l., was so excited and pointing out different things to Ben and I and we were snapping away like crazy. What fun we were having! In Oklahoma they were having what for us Okies was a blizzard. Sixty mile an hour plus winds, heavy snowfall, temperatures that dropped like a rock. In Ft. Worth there were record snowfalls for Christmas time but we didn't have the winds like up north.

Now we have a front coming in like a freight train tonight. The temperatures dropped about 15 degrees this afternoon, the winds have turned around and are coming in from the north and we should start getting thunder rain, thunder sleet and thunder snow with blizzard like winds.

They are already warning folks that the Interstates, both north/south and east/west bound will most likely be shut down for some period of time in the next 24 hours.

Carol and her sister went to WallyWorld after Carol's doctor appointment and Carol said the place was packed. There was not even any onions! Carol is one of the really good planners when it comes to getting things ready for a storm of any kind. I mean we live in Oklahoma. We know the things to do when we are expecting most anything except for maybe hurricanes. I hope we don't
have to plan for one of those. Anyhow she had the larder pretty well stocked but wanted to get milk, bread, onions and a few last minute things that she wanted to have in the house. There were no onions and no bread on the shelves. She did get milk and some fruit cups and odds and ends but she said it was way crazier than usual in the store when folks are getting ready for a storm of any kind.

Anyhow we are all in and buttoned up, had a bowl of beans for supper and messing on the computer and watching 'The Batchelor' and dreading having to walk the girls tonite... It will make my electric blankie even better, though. I've got my camera plugged up and charging in case there are wonderful pictures to take tomorrow.

The only thing that would make it better would be if we still had our Christmas lights up.

Stay warm, y'all, and let's hope nobody loses --- a. internet; b. power; c. heat.

I Want To Go Eat Here…

2011-01-16T02:24:00.000-06:00

The next time I go back to Ft. Worth for a visit. This is a new restaurant about 4 blocks from Ben and Diane’s home.

I’m posting the picture of the restaurant because you know my weird since of humor… and there has been no photo shopping done to this photo. As Ree would say it is SOOC. Enjoy this little snippet and feel free to copy and share if you so desire.

I love odd signs and names of business. Makes me smile and even occasionally laugh out loud.

Both Sides Now...

2011-01-13T17:16:00.008-06:00

I know there are those of you out there that remember Joni Mitchell singing her song, "Both Sides Now", and ever since I first heard it there are things and ideas that have visited the little world in my head and the song pops up to remind me to look at both sides of whatever caught my thoughts and made me think of Joni and her song.

Today it was my flannel sheets. It has been colder than usual here in central Oklahoma, as it has in a lot of the U.S., and I had put my flannel sheets on the bed. Not only are they so warm and wonderful to sleep on, despite the little flannel pills, they are so cozy warm that I don't even want to get out of bed. Which is no big deal because I don't usually want to get out of bed anyway but the sheets have made it even more difficult.

So I got to thinking about both sides of this situation... On the one hand I am so thankful to have my wonderful flannel sheets to snuggle into but on the other there are bound to be things I could be doing to make myself feel useful other than holding down the bed. Then I decide that it is a very important job to hold that bed down and I've done an excellent job of not only doing that but also of training my beloved schnauzer babies to help me with this most important job.

Now if I could only train my bladder as well as they have trained theirs we'd have it made... at least until the guilt factor kicked in for mom not getting up and taking them out for a walk.

In the 9 degree F. temperature.

When I put on all the things I can find to put on before I walk them and feel like the little kids all bundled up until they can hardly waddle or bend over and, invariably, decide that maybe I should have gone to the bathroom before I put on the cap, muffler and heavy bright orange coat that I got so people could see me at night when we are out walking.

And wishing that it was easier to pick up poop with gloves so that I could wear gloves for the walk.

And finally to give thanks for living in Oklahoma where I don't have to deal with this kind of cold very often.

Amen.

The Rest Of The Day After Story...

2010-12-28T00:46:00.006-06:00

Not long after I got to Ben and Diane's we found out that there was a plumbing problem with all three stools in the house... Only one would flush, sort of, and the other two would just fill up and slowly drain back down. One of Ben's sons has a good friend that does plumbing and he made arrangements with him to come out Sunday morning. Diane was scheduled to sing at the church that she and Ben belong to so Ben asked if I would mind staying to be there when the plumber got there... Since getting up early is not my forte I assured him it would be no problem.

The plumber arrived before they left and as it turned out I didn't even see him. He went about his business and got the thrones all up and flushing. The point to all this? I got to sleep in... B. and D. had to get up early to get ready and go to church... when they got back home we snacked on left overs and started watching a football game, then decided we'd rather watch a movie. About thirty minutes into the movie the following is what I saw when I looked around the living room:

Bennett had crashed on the couch... He rarely takes a nap unless he is sick or just exhausted. He was the latter. He's been fighting back problems for about two months now plus working extra shifts at the hospital as he always does during the holidays so docs with young children can be off to enjoy a little extra time with their families.

He slept for about two hours.

Then I looked over to where Diane was sitting to make a comment about the movie we were watching... This is what I saw"

Yep... That's Molly curled up on her lap snoozin'. She's a five month old black lab that weighs a bit over 40 pounds... and on the footrest at Diane's feet is Samson, the kitty from Hell. He's 12 or 13 now I think and is getting more cantankerous than he was when he was younger.

I'm going to drop in another couple of photos of Diane and critters for you to enjoy but I decided to write this post so you all can see that it's not all run and gun in our lives... we all know how to relax pretty darn good.

Diane crashed out for about an hour and a half. All of that time except for the last 15 minutes or so Molly and Sam slept right up there with her. The breeder they got Molly from raises their babies around cats so she is very cat friendly... not like my two tiny terrors. They see a cat and they are off to the races trying to catch it.

Molly tries to play with the three kitties but Sam is pretty much the only one that will play with her some and B. and D. try to watch out for Sam

because Molly could hurt him with her big old puppy feet and they are BIG puppy feet.

That's all for now, folks!

The Day After...

2010-12-26T13:01:00.014-06:00

I got up Christmas Day, got around and drove to Ft. Worth for family Christmas. There was very little traffic and it was a pleasant two and a half hour drive. Our dinner was set for folks to be over about 5 or 5:30 so I had visiting time with my brother Ben and sweet s.i.l. Diane. It's was nice to have a little quiet time to play catch up and just yak a bit before everyone started pouring in the door.

Christmas is pretty much a repeat of Thanksgiving as far as who all shows up. My niece, Launa, and her husband Jeff were the first to arrive and came carrying the dressing in. Jeff is an excellent cook and his dressing is just about the only dressing that I eat. The only thing that I can figure is that he doesn't use as much sage and celery as most people do. I was walking by the kitchen door and Ben was hustling around with a mixing bowl... I had to get the camera out.
This is what I saw when I looked in:
Ben was fixing the mashed potatoes. He had peeled and cooked probably five pounds of potatoes for supper for all the folks that were expected and just dumped them into the big mixer and commenced to whipping them up... They grew.

And grew...

He got another mixing bowl and a measuring cup and split up the amount of potatoes in each bowl to finish whipping them up. I just had to rat him out because I rarely get a chance to gig him about anything. I will have to say he has no qualms about getting in the kitchen in the first place, which is way better than me, and he can smoke meats beautifully.

Diane had to tease him this morning about she may have to bar him from the kitchen when she found potatoes even on the front of the fridge.

Here are a few of the photos I took...

This is my niece Laura showing her nephew (my great nephew), Max, how to play a game on her smart phone. Max is so smart and he was taking all her instruction in and he got to play and help Aunt Loli win her game.

Diane, holding Sadie, her youngest great niece. Sadie is a delicate flower and just the sweetest little girl. We all have to get our hands on Sadie because: 1. She is just so cute; 2. She is just such a little girlie girl. She was born in August and is 14 pounds. She is from the Norris side of the family, Diane's side...

Meet Karson. He is Max's baby brother. He was also born in August. He's 19 pounds now. He is a chunk. He and Sadie like to look and drool at each other and his big brother Max was also enamored with Sadie. When his momma brought him in in his reindeer suit I had to grab a photo to share with you all. Karson is from the Gardner side of the family. I don't think there have been too many delicate flowers born in our side of the family. Even I was a 9 pounder when I was born.

This is a picture of me and my two older sisters... I would have been about two... and you can see we all had the chipmunk cheeks but as we grew older we did start to get skinny. We all kept the chipmunk cheeks, though. My sister Lou Ann was standing beside me and my sister Sue was standing in front.

Karson in Papa Ben's lap. I just wanted to show that the boy came by his jowl rightfully...

I love this photo because of how he has hold of Papa Ben's finger and is so contentedly chewing on his own.

I didn't take many pictures. I was busy eating and talking but I thought I'd put this quickie post to give you all a glimpse into some of the fun and foibles at our family get togethers.

I hope each and every one of you have some fun memories, some joyous moments and even some poignant moment filled with love for those who were with us and those who are no longer with us except in the spirit of family and songs in our hearts.

How Enterprising!

2010-12-24T13:30:00.005-06:00

As I was driving home from WalMart after one final run this morning as I neared an intersection there were half a dozen people standing out with signs...

Mistletoe for Sale!

When we were growing up my family would go to Coalgate, OK, for Thanksgiving with family friends. Each family, there were three to four families that would go each year, would bring something and my momma and the other mommas would be in the kitchen cooking up Thanksgiving dinner and us kids were outside playing and the men would be talking and catching up. We'd all get to the table and stuff ourselves and then visit more until bedtime.

On Friday, daddy and Mr. Whitley, the friend who hosted us each year, and myself and any sibs that wanted to go, usually Bennett and me, would get the single shot .22 and Mr. Whitley's coon dogs and head out into the fields to exercise the dogs and go for a walk. It wasn't coon hunting season but the dogs needed to be exercised and if we saw squirrels we could shoot them. We'd take them home with us and Mr. Whitley would skin them and momma and Mrs. Whitley would fry them up. What a wonderful break from turkey and we felt like even though we were little we contributed to a meal for our families.

But I digress... mistletoe. When we would be out on our big game hunt if there were no squirrels about or we'd already gotten three or four we would try to shoot mistletoe out of the trees to take back with us for Christmas. To GIVE to friends and family...

Why didn't I think about selling it? How enterprising that would have been. I guess none of us thought about it because it is the state flower of Oklahoma and there is an abundance of mistletoe all over and even more so back then. Notwithstanding the fact that it was a lot of fun to make up little bundles of the mistletoe and give to folks to get them into the spirit of Christmas.

Well things are building to a fever pitch around here. Carol and our friend Datha have been in the kitchen since 10 or 11 whipping up food for our Christmas Eve. Traditionally we have snack things like Rotel Cheese dip, cheeses and crackers, chips and other dips like Knoors spinach dip and a spanish dip made with black olives, green onions, tomatoes and oil and vinegar, little smokies in bar-b-que sauce and whatever other snacking stuff that Carol has been making all week, Texas trash, oyster crackers with dry ranch dressing mixed cooked in the oven like the Texas trash, fudge with and without pecans, peanut brittle and on and on. About four o'clock we are doing puppy Christmas. Everyone is bringing their dogs over for dog toys and treats then they will go back home while the big folks get back together for our Christmas. This sounds like we need to get a life, doesn't it... Out of our friends that are coming over, Carol is the only one that had a child and he's now 37 and doesn't yet have a wife or a child, so our pupsters are our little ones.

Anyway I have NORAD Santa Tracker on my computer. He's already been through New Zealand
and Australia, is currently in Finland and headed next to Estonia. So I'm heading to the kitchen to get me some snacks and plan to be back with one more post before Santa makes it to Oklahoma.

More Christmas Memories...

2010-12-22T15:18:00.011-06:00

A I told you in the last post my baby brother and I were always kind of paired up in our escapades by virtue of being the youngest two in a small litter of six kids. I imagine that if mom were still here she would probably say what one of us didn't think up the other one did, but we were still good kids overall. Our imagination was naturally doubled or tripled at Christmas time. A lot of 'if I get whatever for Christmas I'll share with you and it will be sooo much fun.' Or 'if I get such and such I'm gonna play with it for a while and then MAYBE I'll let you play with it, too, if you are nice and do my dishes." Totally depends on the mood, don't 'cha know.

Anyway Christmas brought out extreme hyperactivity in our home. It started building at Thanksgiving. We'd get home from our Thanksgiving visit and mom would start getting out...

wait for it....

The Christmas decorations!!!

After being carefully packed away the previous Christmas unwrapping those familiar decorations was like Christmas itself. There were things that we put out every year. Decorations that had been given to the family by friends and other family members and just seeing them come out again each year was such a delight. Although I wouldn't have been able to describe it then like this it was a wonderful comfort of continuity that threaded our lives together throughout the years.

On the big mirror over the mantle we always taped the aluminum fold up MERRY CHRISTMAS letters, swagging it down 'just so'. I found this photo that showed not only the Merry Christmas sign but also my Aunt Max, mom's sister, her oldest daughter Nancy Gale and my Cuz... her youngest, Carol. We didn't think about the flash in the mirror almost obliterating the picture. I think this was the first and last Christmas that we took pictures in front of the mantle.

In the big house where all the Christmases I remember were celebrated we had a formal dining room that was set off from the living room by french doors. I don't know why they are called french doors and have never thought about it before now... but I digress. We always taped the Christmas cards that we received all over the doors. That always helped to lend an air of shared festivity along with whatever other decorations that were put out. That's my momma, closest to the camera, probably telling whomever was taking the photo to hurry up so we could have the blessing and get into Christmas dinner before it started getting cold. My dad, in all his trendy (not) attire is at the head of the table and my sister Sue is leaning up against him.

A look from the living room into the dining room looking toward the breakfast room and kitchen. There's yours truly and the baby brother Bennett sitting at the foot of the table. Mom is standing next to Bennett. Don't you love the aprons on her and Aunt Annie? I don't think there was ever a big meal that momma fixed that she didn't have on an apron.

Anyway, back to the decorations...
This is my mom with her first grandchild, Bill Stearns. Actually it's William Stearns but he ended up being called Bill Stearns all of his life. He is 57 now... got kids and grandkids now... and I don't want to think about that now...

The tree on the mantle to the left of Bill Stearns head had a light inside and when the heat built up the tree turned around. It was fascinating to us little ones.

I'll wind up this post with the Christmas tree and one happy cowgirl. I'm going on a hunt for more Christmas photos to share with you all and to try to get at least one more post in before Christmas...

Get to looking for your Christmas memories, y'all. It brings a whole flood of memories back... and most all of them good!

Christmas Memories...

2010-12-21T21:31:00.003-06:00

I got to thinking about it and I thought there might be some people who drop in to read a little story that think the only sib I have is my baby brother so I decided to out this picture in to help explain our family a bit.

Of course, that is mom and dad in the middle. There were six of us kids... my oldest brother, Bill, then my sister, Lou Ann. Those two are standing behind mom and dad. Next was my brother Walter, standing next to momma. Then my middle sis, Sue, standing by my daddy. Next I came along and the big finale was my baby brother, Bennett.

It just seemed to work out that we ended up paired up, the two oldest, then the middle two and finally me and my baby brother. It was even more emphasized for us youngest ones because, having two older sisters Ben and I would get shooed out of the kitchen to go play when momma was trying to get dinner going, my sisters would be helping and we'd be underfoot. So when I tell a lot of the stories that's why so many involve us two youngest heathens...

Anyway, we always had our Christmas on Christmas morning. Christmas Eve we always hung our stockings up. Daddy didn't want any nail holes in the mantle so we always pinned our stockings on the back of the sofa. That was one of the last things we did before we were sent up to bed. All of you that have kids probably know that doing something like that right before bedtime is not conducive to getting little ones settled down for the night. Seems like, as best that I can remember, that simple act started the speculation for me and Ben.

One year when it was time to hang up our stockings we all brought downstairs whatever stocking we were hanging up for Santa to fill. Back in the day we didn't have "stockings" like you see in the pictures or the Christmas cards nowdays. We used one of our own stockings or maybe one of our older brother or sisters stockings because they were bigger. Anyway, here we come to put our stockings on the sofa and Bennett came in with a shopping bag. Momma and daddy were chiding him for being greedy... but he told them he wasn't being greedy, he wanted to get a lot of toys and stuff so that he could share with all the kids that didn't get any Christmas! My momma said that her momma always told her the stock was supposed to improve and Bennett sure seemed to get more than his share of smarts to come up with that story being so young.

More to come before Christmas. Y'all get to thinking about some of the special memories you have of Christmas, things that make you smile to yourself and let's try to get the spirit going on now, ya hear?!

Yes, Helen, There Is A Santa Claus…

2010-12-17T11:36:00.001-06:00

There are many Christmases I could write stories about but the first one I’d like tell is about our visit from Santa Clause.

I was probably five or six and my little brother would have been two or three. It was an exciting time around the house. Dad had brought in the tree and it had been decorated and smelled wonderful. The big mirror over the mantel had our MERRY CHRISTMAS lettered greeting swagged across it and there was the smell of Christmas baking in the air.

My baby brother and I were already so excited we were probably amped up so much I’m sure we were unable to stay still for long. It was not unusual for folks to be dropping by for a visit and to exchange gifts, mostly home-baked goodies, and so I don’t remember about the doorbell ringing until I heard the jingle bells and a jolly “Ho, ho, ho!!! Merry Christmas!”

There was Santa Claus… he was walking in our front door! He was so tall, taller than my daddy, and not nearly so fat as I had seen him on the Christmas cards we received. His hair and his beard was as white as the snow was back in the early fifties and he had a beautiful deep gentle voice. I can remember looking up at him all decked out in his beautiful, soft red velvet suit, awestruck. He visited with us for a bit and talked to us kids and then he told us he had to go, he had other families and children to see. He gave us a big hug and told us to be good children and he’d be back to visit next when we were sleeping in our beds on Christmas Eve.

I had seen Santa! In our home! He had come to talk to us! I savored that visit like no other that I can remember. I can actually feel the awe and excitement I felt looking up at him in our living room… the wonder of seeing him up close, in person. I don’t remember what we talked about, what I wished for that Christmas, I just remember the feelings I had. I wish there were photos of that visit. I know what they would have looked like in my head… Santa leaned over a bit while talking to two little ones, both looking up at him with sparkling eyes and you’d be able to feel the animation, the excitement. I can feel it and I can see it in my mind’s eye to this day and I’m sixty-five years old.

So try to think back and find that time that you felt such a wonder in your life, savor it and wallow around in the deliciousness of that feeling. It can work wonders for your soul.

And always, always believe in Santa Claus because if you ever stop believing in Santa… well, that’s when you start getting underwear for Christmas.

Good Golly Miss

2010-11-27T04:24:00.000-06:00

Molly!

Meet the newest addition to my Baby Bro and S.I.L.’s household. Molly is 3 months old and is the new dog in the cathouse. Fortunately she was brought up around cats and leaves the cats alone except for trying to get one of the three of them to play with her.

And just what is it about a dog’s paw that is so fascinating? Perhaps the Frito smell that they all seem to have or it could be just the wonderful mixture of textures. I don’t have a clue, I just think they are wonderful mixture of utility and beauty. Oh, well… You all know I’m a little strange by now and this is one of the odd things I find very appealing.

I’m in Fort Worth at Ben and Diane’s. My youngest sib and his wife. Ben traditionally works on Thanksgiving and Christmas Day to give other doctors who might have family to visit that require travel an extra day off. Since both of our parents and both of Diane’s parents are gone Ben and Diane do Thanksgiving usually on the Saturday after. That way their kids can feel comfortable about visiting their spouse’s family and be able to give thanks for all of our blessings and share a meal with whomever can get here to visit. In other words, we are blessed with more than one Thanksgiving repast.

Speaking of which…

The cooks did a wonderful job at our house…

Jeff is practicing and loosening up his jaw muscles for the feast. No, actually he was getting the dressing out of the stove for his mom and touched his finger to something hot and I just happened to be taking pictures at the time and I got this photo. He will probably kill me for it but if he gives me grief I’ll tell him I’m going to post it on FaceBook if he messes with me, the ‘Other Mother’, too much.

. Carol and our friend Datha… both are wonderful cooks. I asked Datha to come and play at our house for Thanksgiving and then to pup sit my girls so I can make the quick run to Ft. Worth for the weekend.

Carol’s sister baked the turkey and a turkey breast because the turkey Carol got was smaller than usual and she wanted to make sure that all of us white meat eaters had plenty to eat.

Now that’s a beautiful bird and it was so moist. I have to give credit where credit is due.

Dressing… I’m not a big fan of dressing but thought I’d share what was on the menu with you all.

Soul sweet potatoes. This is probably my second favorite of the holiday dishes that Carol makes for both Thanksgiving and Christmas. Oh, boy, this stuff is good and I don’t even care for sweet potatoes except for this and sweet potato pie.

Spanish green beans… Tomatoes, onion, bacon, green beans and a bit of cayenne to give it some ‘hello mama’ kick. We also had mashed potatoes and my favorite, giblet gravy but I didn’t take pictures of that. I swear I could put it in a cup and drink it if I had the chance. Our friend Scotty also brought over 2 pecan pies, a pumpkin pie and a black walnut pie.

Jeff and the girls. One for each hand. I love this young man. He is the closest thing I’ve ever had to a child and he is delightful. Grumpy, very talented, dry wit with a hint (or more) of sarcasm but he is a good guy and very helpful to his mom and his ‘other mother’. This is the bunch of us that shared in our wonderful dinner. L-R-Yours truly, Carol, Jeff, Datha and Carol’s sister Nancy behind her and Scotty and the four-legged one is SueSue making sure there was no turkeys other than us on the floor.

I’ll try to get photos to share with you all on my second Thanksgiving, tomorrow… well, actually today since it is four in the morning and I’m having trouble sleeping but that’s another story for another day. I’m going to turn off the light and try to get a little sleep before helping get the food going for one o’clock lunch.

Sissies Don't Make It To Old Age...

2010-11-20T19:01:00.004-06:00

No photos on this post. Just a quick catch up for you all. I went to see Carol's brother Wednesday. He is an orthopedic surgeon that I trust and I had made an appointment to see him because I have been having hip problems for several months... off and on. More on the last couple of weeks, though, as there have been a couple of times that the pain woke me up out of a dead sleep. I must tell you that I have lived in Oklahoma or Texas all my life and have slept through hard storms... hail that put holes in our roof in Bartlesville, wind that broke trees over, no tornadoes thank goodness, but I just threw this in so you'd know there's not much that wakes me in the night.

Anyway, after getting up and getting ice packs to settle the grabbing pain I finally bit the bullet and went to get it checked out. I had a hint that it was probably bursitis but I knew that Bill would be able to verify that or know if it wasn't... Sure enough, it's bursitis of the hip. If you have had to deal with this you have my utmost sympathy... if you haven't you don't want to have to deal with it. I ended up getting an injection in my hip. Afterward my Bro, who had driven me to Bartlesville, and I went to a restaurant that is one of the staples in B'ville, Murphy's.

Murphy's was started up in 1946 and is the home of the hot hamburger, at least in Bartlesville. The restaurant cooks up a couple of hamburger patties, puts them face up on the bread, puts a load of french fries on top and then covers it all with brown gravy. A guaranteed cholesterol shot right straight to the heart, but there are folks who have moved away that every time they come back for a visit they head to Murphy's for a sinful, totally not healthy meal. But that's not what Bro and I had...

Our favorite, and the thing worth driving three hours for, as far as we are concerned is their filet mignon. They serve a 6 ounce filet that is the best I've ever eaten. It is always tender, cooked just like you want it and absolutely delicious. They serve it with a baked potato and salad. That's it. And it is wonderful. They make a house dressing for the salad that I could sit and eat on crackers... sooo good. You wouldn't think that a joint known for their hamburgers would serve such an incredibly good steak, but, oh man, they do. I just groaned and smiled all the way back home.

So now you know another dirty little secret of mine... I would drive three hours for a great steak. I don't drive much of anywhere other than Ft. Worth and sometimes Tulsa, but every time I get a chance... I'll go to Murphy's.

The bursitis? My hip is doing much better but Carol's brother said that it is not unusual to have to have a 'booster' shot... another shot to get the bursitis under control.

Ask me where I'll go to eat if I have to go back.

Simple Joys...

2010-11-12T13:11:00.014-06:00

I’ve decided that the only way to break out of the depths of depression is to take back the simple joys of my life. There seem to have been so many things that have ganged up on me in my head that I’ve just been overwhelmed and unable to fight my way out of the shadows.

In looking through my photos trying to inspire some form of emotion I ran across the following photos…

I took this photo when my girls and I were out one beautiful fall day. I don't remember what I was doing, probably putting away garden tools for the winter, but the girls were hunting grasshoppers.

"Aha! I've got one!" says my Chloe... Whereupon she promptly starts trying to rub it out... with her body.

"Got'cha now you ornery little jumping, flying thing!"

"See mom! Right there! I'm a GREAT hunter!"

"You were right, SueSue. This is a great hunting place. Now let's do our break dance to thank the happy grasshopper hunting God..."

"We've got to teach these moves to mom. When she is blue it will make her feel so much better!"

Okay, mom, get down in the grass on your back and WIGGLE!!!"

Meanwhile... in another area of the ponderosa...

Life goes on...

Keep it simple, stupid!

Off The Walls Of My Mind…

2010-11-03T16:54:00.000-05:00

Sometimes I sit around and think too much… Usually about one thing, but sometimes like today I have random thoughts bouncing around in my head and every now and then a thought will even stop me in my tracks. The one thought that I’d like to share with you all today…

What costume would Lady GaGa wear for Halloween? Would she just run around with no make-up, a pair of old jeans and a sweatshirt and normal shoes?

This is just on example of the wonderful things that trip through my mind when I’m sitting doing something mindless on the computer but I’ll share some of my more normal recent moments now and the photos to back them up…

October 30th I went out to my Cuz’s with the girls and spent the night and had a very good visit with her and my Bro. The pupsters got to run around outside without leashes on and they, too, had a great visit with Spud and Lucky. My Cuz and I wandered out to the back garden on a stroll and picked these…

Well, at least the bell peppers part of these. We went to the front and picked all those jalapeno peppers.

Both the bell pepper plants and the jalapeno plant were loaded still with babies and blooms both. They have been producing like crazy since the weather cooled down. The okra is done for the season but I thought you’d enjoy seeing what the okra looks like when it is dried:

These are some that I picked up, two were on the ground and two were dried on the plants. The seeds rattle in them like a baby rattle and these four will have enough seeds to insure that I have okra seeds enough for a small plot in my yard in Norman.

If you look real close you can see the two pods on your left have just barely started splitting open, but what I think is so neat is the ribbon look to the pods.

Earlier in the week my cousin had picked these:

Roma tomatoes and more bell peppers. When we were in the front I checked out the tomato plants and there was a load of green tomatoes even at this late date.

But this is what caught my eye initially and drew me out to the front garden…

My yellow double blooming iris that I had moved from Noble was blooming!

Lordy I love having a touch of spring in the fall. Whomever was the genius that managed to breed double blooming iris is wonderful. If I ever meet them I’ll give them a big kiss on the cheek and a big hug.

My black mood that I’ve been trying to deal with was lightened, at least for the afternoon, thanks to my Cuz, my Bro, the dogs and a mystery iris hybridizer.

It's Official...

2010-10-29T17:54:00.008-05:00

It is fall in Oklahoma... We had to turn on the heat this morning because it was about 58 degrees here in the trailer... It got cold enough for frost on the ground last night and this morning when I took the dogs out for their morning constitutional I could see my breath. I did have the foresight to put on a long-sleeved fleece jacket on over my t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants, but I will have to admit to no socks on my feet and just slipping on my Crocs... Needless to say after a 10 minute walk I was ready to crawl back in under the covers.

While the official first day of fall was Sept. 22, in Oklahoma we rarely see any crisp fall mornings until late October... usually around Halloween. Speaking of Halloween, I always make sure to check out Rick's blog, Organized Doodles blog for the latest "share if you dare" that he so kindly offers up to all us bloggers, or anybody else, to 'steal' and put on our blogs... and here it is...

But back to my 'officially fall' statement... Carol cooked up a big pot of brown beans and about 4 o'clock this afternoon turned on the oven to cook meat loaf and I had to turn on the air conditioner. It was almost 80 degrees F. in the house. It was a beautiful 70 F. outside but when the west sun hits the trailer and the oven is on... it gets too warm for this old gal and her hot flashes... so the standing joke in Okie Land is when you have to turn on both the heat and a/c in one day it's either fall or spring and since it's almost November even I figured out it's fall.

Anyway, Happy Fall y'all!!!

Oh, and please pray for or light a candle for or send good wishes out for my favorite baseballers, the Texas Rangers... Finally after 50 years they made it to the World Series and so far they are playing like a high school baseball team. They are headed back home for their game Saturday against the San Francisco Giants after getting thumped bad in the first two games but all of us Ranger fans know how to hope for miracles so maybe things will turn around.

Granddaddy Sid, Part Two…

2010-10-17T20:30:00.001-05:00

During World War II granddad worked at Tinker AFB in Midwest City. Because he was born in Indian Territory he didn’t have a birth certificate like folks from a ‘state’ had. They had to do all kinds of paperwork for a birth certificate to get him cleared to work since it was for the government. I just found this out from talking to my cousin this past week. Granddad and grandmother lived with my aunt, uncle and cousins during this time we think because my uncle worked at Tinker and they could ride together to work. During the war everything was rationed, gas, tires, sugar and a lot more. I don’t know if, since my uncle and my granddad worked on the planes, thus the war effort, they had any more gasoline than normal folks were allotted to be sure they could get back and forth to work. I wish I had thought of these questions years ago when my uncle was still alive but it seems that looking at things retrospectively is when all these questions pop into my head.

My grandparents probably were dressed to go to church because of granddad having his suit coat on… This photo would have been taken in the late 40’s I think because of this…

I was probably two or two and a half here but the photo was taken at my aunt Mac and Uncle Bud’s place like the photo before, or at least that’s where I think it was but it could have been at the house where we lived before we moved to the ‘big house’ as I like to call it because I remember next to nothing about the little home we lived in before the big house. My grandmother is stepping out the door, probably to chase me down, but I think that my grandparents had moved to Konawa, Oklahoma, by this time and were in Okla. City for a visit and this is why there are a number of photos that were taken at this time.

Anyway, I loved my granddaddy and although I didn’t find the pictures I was looking for at least I got you introduced to my grandparents and when I find the photos that I know one of us has I’ll be able to post them and share another post about my grandparents with you all.

My Granddaddy Sid…

2010-10-16T01:37:00.002-05:00

First off I feel like I need to say that these posts are MY memories, things I either remember about family members or stories that I remember being told about family when I was growing up. I imagine if you asked my four living sibs or any of my cousins about a certain time you’d probably get similar stories but from their perspectives. Since my parents were older when I was born (36 and 41) my grandparents also were quite a bit older so by the time I started forming memories they had either gone to see Jesus or were getting close…

That being said my granddaddy Venable, my mom’s daddy, is the grandparent that I remember most because he lived longer into my life than my other grandparents.

My granddaddy Sidney Venable was born in Oklahoma Indian Territory. His daddy, my great granddaddy, was a doctor that traveled around the Territory, mostly out from around Ada, Oklahoma, area. This photo was, as best as we can figure, taken probably around 18-21 years of age. Granddad turned totally gray before he was 30 so it was a delight to me to see this picture of him with his auburn hair and though he turned gray early he never lost his hair and I loved his gray, wavy hair.

He and grandmother farmed out in Canadian, Texas, in the Texas panhandle. It was a hardscrabble life but both of them were no strangers to hard working.

At some point the family moved to Gentry, Arkansas, because that is where they were living when my momma went to John Brown School for her last two years of high school and met my daddy who was going to college for his bookkeeping degree. I assumed that granddad and grandmother had a farm outside Gentry Arkansas because I don’t know of them doing any other type of work after they were married. Grandmother taught school before they married but I think she just became a farmer’s wife after they married and I imagine it was a lot harder life than teaching.

Anyway after the war started up grandmother and granddad moved back to the Okla. City area and lived with my Aunt Mac and Uncle Bud and their children, Nancy Gale, Ray Lynn and Carol, the cousin that took me in for the last November until I moved back to Norman in July. Granddad and Uncle Bud both worked out at Tinker Air Force Base in Midwest City, a bedroom community of Okla. City. After the war he retired and he and grandmother moved to Konawa, Oklahoma, about an hour and a half drive from OKC. I remember visiting them in Konawa one time before grandmother had to go to the nursing home in Okla. City. Granddad came and lived with our family after that.

To me, he was the kindest man. He loved to read the stories of the old west, Luke Short and

Louis L'Amour in particular. He'd sit in his rocker, upstairs in his bedroom, and read for hours. Granddaddy also played the fiddle and if we asked him he'd break it out and play a little "Turkey In The Straw" for my little brother and me. He smoked Lucky Strike cigarettes and sometimes when money was short he' roll his own.

This is getting long and I'm having trouble finding the photos I want to show you all so I'm closing this for this evening... Stay tuned for Granddaddy Sid Part Deaux.

I'm Feeling It...

2010-10-13T23:31:00.004-05:00

I feel the earth move under my feet... actually under my whole body. I was still laying around in the bed this morning, a little after 9 a.m., and heard what at first I thought was a truck, like a dump truck that was overloaded, going down the street, a rumbling. Both dogs bailed off the bed barking like crazy and the bed started vibrating like some one had installed a heavy duty vibrator in it, the kind you could drop a quarter in the box on the nightstand at the motel in the olden days and the bed would start vibrating, not that I would know anything about that but I digress...

I was laying there jiggling and smiling that, once again in my life, I was feeling the earth move when it dawned on me that it was just that... the earth moving. I heard Carol tell whomever she was talking on the phone to that she would have to call them back, heard the recliner foot rest bang back in place and she was up like a shot heading to the door. I got up and she asked if I felt the trailer move. I suppressed a smile and said yeah... She thought at first that someone had driven into the trailer and then realized it must have been an earthquake. She got into her wheelchair and headed outside and I laid back down and turned on the t.v. Sure enough in a couple of minutes the local news broke in and said there had been an earthquake and would get back on air in about 12 minutes when, hopefully, they would have more information and would be checking with the earthquake center about the strength and where it originated. I felt that there was no alarm at all, more just letting folks know that, yes, there had been an earthquake.

There was still some disagreement on the 10 p.m. new about the strength of the trembler, 4.3 according to the national earthquake center and 5.1 at Oklahoma earthquake center. The epicenter was about 6 miles east of where we live and we figure that our California friends are saying 'big deal, snicker, snicker... it's no real earthquake unless it gets into the 6+ range' and I'd have to agree with them. I was not alarmed at all during this episode, more like curious about how strong it was that we would feel it at all. We have had reports for the last year of probably eight different quakes around central Oklahoma area and this was the first one that I've actually felt since 1952 when there was a 5.5 earthquake close to the Okla. City area. I remember that we must have had people over at the house because my sis and I were sitting together on the piano bench in the living room. I would have been seven and I remember us looking each other when the piano bench started dancing around with us on it. It was not scary to me then either. I remember being curious at the chandelier tinkling and dancing and the piano bench moving.

Anyhow... just so y'all know, in case you heard about an Oklahoma earthquake, that no one was injured or killed and only minor damage has been reported such as broken windows here and there and maybe some cracks in brick mortar in homes closer to the epicenter but all in all it was more just an unusual happening.

I'm working on my next post about my family but it will be another day or two because I will be driving a friend of ours back to Tulsa tomorrow so that will be about a six hour up, unload and drive back tomorrow evening, but I've got the post about half written... just looking for a few more photos so I hope to get it up by Friday.

All's well that ends well and all has ended well this day.

When I Stop I Really Stop…

2010-09-29T16:13:00.000-05:00

I guess I thought that since I missed my 30 day goal I’d just get back to doing it whenever… And here I am.

I think that maybe I bit off more than I could chew at a stretch. Perhaps I need to think in smaller increments since I’m pretty distractible. Maybe start off with 3 days in a row or some such and then go to 5 days and so forth. All I can do is try.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch… no, literally, the ranch.

This is where my grandmother Lucy was raised, if I get the story right, down outside of Madisonville, Texas. That’s her on the right in the white blouse and dark skirt. She was a school teacher and she made my granddaddy wait seven years before she would marry him. She wanted to be sure that she got all her brothers through school. Her daddy, my great granddaddy, was shot and killed by three men in front of one of her brothers when they went to town one day. Two men held him and a third man shot him and they lit out for the hills. My grandmother and everyone else knew who the killers were but they were never caught. I guess they left Texas for parts unknown but Lucy carried a gun in her apron for years and if she’d ever seen them she would have given them a taste of frontier justice. My oldest brother spent a lot of time with grandmother and granddad and he said she was a crack shot. She taught him how to shoot. She would give him a single shot .22 rifle and one bullet to go out and get a rabbit or squirrel for dinner. He said if he missed there was no meat on the table.

Since none of these photos were dated, we just have to kind of guess about ages… this photo looks to me to be probably about the time she finished school. She was younger looking than in the following photos. If any of my sibs or my cousins correct me I’ll let you know…

This is a photo of her taken with her school children. She taught first through eighth grades in a one room school. You can see her there on your left with her school bell in hand. She was a pretty determined woman from what I gather and didn’t truck too much foolishness, at least where getting an education was concerned, but I have to think from knowing my mom, my aunts and my uncle and my great uncles that humor was a part of their lives.

I think this photo was probably taken the same time as the picture on the ranch at the beginning of this story.

As near as we can figure this was probably taken about the time she and granddad got married. I was only six when grandmother died and I can say that I only have two memories of her other than the stories that I was told. One was at their home in Konawa, Oklahoma, where they lived in their old age, and the other was one time I went with momma when grandmother was in a nursing home and didn’t know anyone, but I have loved grandmother stories all my life.

That’s all for now folks… I’ll try to get back sooner rather than later and continue this epistle. It’s a beautiful day here, about 80 degrees (F.) here and I’m going to go do some things outside.

Gotta Have A Sense Of Humor…

2010-09-25T02:57:00.001-05:00

If you are going to visit Oklahoma. We have a myriad of things ‘unusual’ if you take the time to look…

Carol and I went to the Oklahoma State Fair last Tuesday. Wasn’t the best time because her wheelchair wasn’t holding a charge. She left it plugged in all night Monday and we hadn’t been to very many places yet at the fair grounds and the charge indicator started showing orange… which is the last color before red which means Helen’s gonna have to push this heavy mother with Carol in it back to the van. There was a wheelchair and scooter rental place close to where we came in and they let us plug in for a bit to try to goose it back up into the green but it wasn’t long at all before it had gone back down again. Carol headed for where the van was parked but asked me to get some spiral potatoes for her. I mean you have to eat some junk food at the fair. Fair foods are exempt from calories and, for me, cholesterol, don’t you know…

I caught up to her and got her loaded in the van and started looking for the way out of our parking lot when I spotted this…

Dumb me, I had gone off and left the good camera at home and then I thought, “I have my camera in my phone!” These aren’t great but at least I get to share the hot pink “REDNECK BARBIE” truck with you all. Yep, that’s what it says on the back window.

Another view… She had this puppy all shined up and spit polished to come to the fair and had parked way out in the parking lot so’s no one would park to close to her and maybe bump it with their door or something. I told Carol I would have loved to see the driver…

This is all I have for y’all today but I thought you’d get a kick out of these photos.

Hang in there… I’ll get back to family soon.

Sign Seen On Church Marquee In Moore OK...

2010-09-22T22:58:00.002-05:00

ASPIRE TO INSPIRE BEFORE YOU EXPIRE.

My Bad…

2010-09-20T23:10:00.001-05:00

To use a phrase that I don’t even like because of it’s imbecilic over use but it seems to work in this context.

To be real honest… I hit the wall. And then the wall fell on me. And then I had to cart the left-over garage sale stuff home and I was wiped O.U.T. On the bright side I did get a bath. The dogs haven’t yet gotten a bath but that’s good news for them. They don’t like a bath. Oh, they put up with it because I’m bigger than they are but they look at me like I’m beating them. You want to talk hang dawg lookin’. They love me when it’s over though.

I’ll get back on my family roll next time. I had to do this special post for my regulars of 4 or 6 people that have heard about and watched (in a manner of speaking) my garden grow… from squash to tomatoes to my infamous okra. This is a guinea photo and an okra report…

Bro got a photos of the new guineas when they stopped by for a visit…

The new guineas, in making their rounds every day, like to come to the back porch and stop by for a visit. They perch up on the railing and preen and visit a bit. (First Photo) The second group felt the railing was full so they fluffed and preened on the back steps. They are so much fun to watch. You some times think they don’t have a brain between them when they get startled and scatter like Henny Penny except they start yelling ‘chook, chook, chook’ like guineas on speed or what ever they call speed nowadays instead of Henny Penny’s famous spiel “ The sky is falling, the sky is falling!!!”… And Debbie you don’t need to tease me about nowadays… I do use it often and naturally if the situation warrants. I sometimes feel as if I’m a dual personalitied person , part higher educated with very good English sliced and diced and mixed in with Okie idioms that can rear their ornery head at any moment… sometimes called up and sometimes they slip in the conversation on their own whim, unannounced. I surprise my own self sometimes. Usually it only happens when I’m tired, though. I know, I know I’ve been tired a lot lately.

Meanwhile, check out this okra… Almost big enough to think about marrying…but not quite. Okra this large is generally bad, woody and fiberous. The marrying phrase is just a flip remark but look at the size of these puppies….

The okra has gotten this large in just a week. Nobody has picked since I was out there last week and the okra up top is so big and heavy that it’s bending the stalks over.

Makes it easy to pick those 8 foot tall stalks without a ladder. This is my redneck crown molding in the process of getting prettified, you know, fancyied up. First I put up 1”X8’ pine boards around the top of the walls, butted against the roof. I personally like the simplicity of it but Cuz wanted to fancy it up a bit so she and Bro went to Lowe’s and decided on 3/4” cove molding at the top and underneath the bottom of the board. No step for a stepper. Got it up and cut and only hit one finger with a hammer hard enough to squirt blood… but not on the new paint job, thank God.

In this corner you can see the border with trim on the left… unfancied on the right. It’s going to look awesome when finished and I need to get it finished to get off Cuz’s list. She doesn’t like when jobs get drug out. She one of those intelligent people that like some sense of order in her home. Cuz, it’s almost over and I love you, even if I am slow. But I don’t want you to ever have to redo anything I fix and paint. I like doing things as right as I know how and sometimes that takes longer…

The green trim of the baseboard will be white, as will the window sills and the door facings and the crown.And the next time you get a ‘room’ report the floor will be clean.

Okay! Carol and I are going to the fair tomorrow in OKC and I plan on getting my camera charged up to get photos to use at some point down the road. So I hope this post has enough interest for you to forgive me for failing and falling outfor a couple of days of my challenge…

Now For Mom’s Side…

2010-09-17T23:57:00.001-05:00

Momma’s side of the family are Texans. I’ve looked all over the place up here and this is the only photo I’ve found with the family all in it.

Top row, left to right: Aunt Pauline Benedict, Mary Lou Gardner, Aunt Maxine Gundy.

Bottom row, left to right: Granddaddy Sidney Venable, Grandmother Lucy Venable, and Uncle Tom Venable.

This will be continued tomorrow since it is 11:56 p.m.

I don’t Know…

2010-09-17T00:13:00.000-05:00

I may have bit off more than I can chew with this challenge…I’m not giving up, just struggling a bit with all that’s been going on in that last couple weeks. But I’m a hanging in…

I want to do what Chloe is doing in this photo…ducking and covering…getting away from the stress of moving, trying to finish the bedroom at Cuz’s , trying to plant a flower or two or thirty at the new place and I feel like I’ve been failing miserably. My babies both need a bath, shoot, I need a bath and this week has been nuts. If I survive through Saturday when the garage sale is over maybe my life will settle.

Six minutes to go so here are the last 15 photos for you to peruse and comment on…. Wagon wheel with spiderwort

Wagon wheel with spiderwort…

Ferns

One of my favorite flowering shrubs…wiegelia

White iris Immortal…

Columbine…

Double rose…

Immortal in bright light…

Gladiolas at dusk…

Another type of gladiola at dusk…Daylily upcloseJapanese decorative grass…

River birch in snow…

Sun through snow laden trees…

Okay… I’m 13 minutes late but here it is… the last choices to look at for the entry to the magazine.

Tell me what you like…

Another Almost Midnight Post…

2010-09-16T00:12:00.000-05:00

No excuses… I was in bed a good portion of the day. Between driving up and down the road a lot lately and trying to get done what I needed to for Carol’s birthday and help get ready for a garage sale this weekend… it all caught up with me today. I ran into the wall and then it fell on me. When this happens my brain, what there is left of it, is totally addled. I looked up at the clock and it was 11:45 p.m.

When I set this goal of posting daily this month I didn’t know that there would be barriers such as life that would really challenge me to stand up and keep my commitment. It’s not gonna get me down though, because I’m a fighter when it comes to keeping my word.

Any member of my family can testify to my doing all I can to keep my word even at my own detriment. Speaking of family… from the left is my baby brother next to him is our oldest brother, dad is next then moi and next to me is my little momma… and you can see what I call her my little momma. Standing tall behind momma is the BRO… he is the middle brothers and next in the green shorts is my sister.

Any one of them will testify that I am very honest and I try to keep my word no matter what … you ever heard of me overloading my own butt..

I’m nine minutes late but only because I can’t type very fast when I’m addled…

Gotta be better manana

Love you all!!! 11 minutes late… sorry

Guess Who Is Having A Birthday?

2010-09-14T17:25:00.003-05:00

Yep... Carol Sue's (a.k.a. Missy)70th birthday is today. She has survived 40 years of teaching... Her hairy legged, ornery baby boy... and yours truly.

Carol I hope you have many, many more year with us to laugh, love and play and each year gets easier and better for you.

Remember These Babies?

2010-09-13T23:55:00.001-05:00

The new guinea babies… These pictures were taken 7/27/2010.

Look at them now! These photos I took today.

They’ve almost shed all their baby feathers…

They patrol the fields around the house…

Always pretty much in a pack,

Then into the yard, patrolling for any little bug, grasshoppers, ticks and any other buglet that they can find.

Once in a while they will perch on the fence out the back door… lined up for a Spud inspection.

Stopping by to say hello and to preen a bit.

Then it’s time to settle in for the night…

They are grown up enough to be able to fly up into the big oak tree by the house, roosting up high where they are safe from wandering dogs and predators like coyotes.

There are scraps and tussles for “THE” best roosting spot in a guineas mind, kind of like us kids playing king of the hill on a dirt pile.

As it gets darker they get harder to spot… but if you go outside to go to your car or to walk to the workshop you are treated to what I fondly have named… “The Guinea Hallelujah Chorus”. I mean the chooks (in deference to my friends ‘down under’) tune up and start to set up the alarm… I’m talking they are better than any alarm set-up you could go out and buy.

It’s 11:54 p.m. and I’ve got to get this posted…

What will come tomorrow?

I Gotta Get On This Earlier In The Day…

2010-09-12T22:37:00.001-05:00

I’ve been gone since 10 a.m. this morning… trying to get stuff done. I got home in time for beans, cornbread, fried okra and fried potatoes… Then was sitting here and watching the news and it hit me….

I hadn’t posted yet today. Crap! Okay so there are going to be days like this but it seems like a buttload of them have jumped on me since I started this personal challenge of posting something every day this month. I guess my bulldog tenacity has kicked in now. I hate to commit to something and then not carry through on my commitment. So I’ve decided that I will share something that I have carried in my wallet for forty years…

“Not By Bread Alone: After Hippocrates”

Written in 1907 by James Terry White and read:

“If thou of fortune be bereft

And in thy store there be but left

Two loaves, sell one and with the dole

Buy hyacinths to feed thy soul.”

I’ll try do more tomorrow but I had to get a post together for this evening so I decided to share something that’s been near and dear and given me inspiration for many, many years.

Tomorrow…

How About Some Help, Y’All…

2010-09-11T22:57:00.000-05:00

I’m trying to pick out some pictures to send in to Oklahoma Living Magazine. Since I’ve messed around until almost 10 p.m. and I haven’t written a post yet I’m bailing by asking if you all have any ideas about which of these I should submit…

Okra blossom and okra.

Trailer trash bird feeder… or it could be called an Okie recycler bird feeder.

Cone flowers with butterfly and tree limbs in garden.

Storm’s abrewin’ sky.

Okra photo #2.

Daylily taken at dusk.

Flicker on feeder in the rain.

Stump planter.

Butterfly and bee on sunflower.

Look at that body… that’s why I call them laying like this frog-doggin’… This isn’t one that I want to send to the magazine… this is just to break up the tension of choosing.

Trumpet vine and dead stump grown around fence.

Joseph’s Coat rose blossom close-up.

Joseph’s Coat rose #2.

Joseph’s Coat rose #3.

Bubbles in the stream.

Glass garden ball in the snow.

I know… too many choices. I have more but it is getting close to 11 p.m. and I have a bunch of stuff to do tomorrow. Feel free to pick more than one. I can enter as many as I want to pay $5 to enter. There weren’t any parameters or specific categories other than Oklahoma pictures. Always before Oklahoma Living has had recipe contests for their fund raiser for different Oklahoma charities. This year they decided to do Oklahoma photographs. The charity for this year is Oklahoma Spay Network.

Maybe I ought to pick out some dog photos for you all to look at, too…

How Brave Are You?

2010-09-10T22:18:00.000-05:00

I was looking through some photos for a contest for the ‘Oklahoma Living’ magazine. Bro had seen the story for a new photo contest for the magazine and tore it out and gave it to me. But I digress…

In going through my files I happened across the dreaded “school photos” section. I decided that since I’m rather brain dead today that I needed to do a post with some of these photos and ask you all… are you brave enough to publish your school photos?

This, technically, is not a ‘school’ photo but I wanted to share it anyway. This was my first day of kindergarten.

This photo was taken before the above photo. I was so anxious to go to school that I was just dancing in the back yard. I wanted them to hurry up so I could go to school. Little did I know that sixty years later I would be sitting here fixing to show my dreaded school photos to potentially the world.

Are you ready for this?

This would have been about first grade. Silly me, I didn’t think to check dates on these and they are in a box somewhere… but I don’t really think that accuracy matters with school photos.

This photo was my second grade picture and, oddly enough since it is one of the dreaded school photos, is my favorite ever photo of me. Don’t ask why because I couldn’t tell you. I think it is the twinkle in my eyes but anyway it’s my favorite of me.

Third grade… will I ever grow into my teeth? And whatever happened to the blingy bow tie with the huge rhinestones in it? Was it my fashion statement or my mom’s or one of my sisters?

Fourth grade… do you remember pin curls? That’s what these had to be because the curls don’t start right at my scalp like a perm would have… The hair-do does make me look like I have thick hair, though, which was nice looking back because my hair is and was very fine and very straight.

I decided to throw this one in because this, while not a school photo, was a photo at school. We were learning to play the violin and while my bow hand is wonderful, my neck hand looks like I have a death grip on my violin. It also must have been a jeans day because we girls only got to wear breeches on special days. I thought the other girl was prissy because she was wearing a skirt and blouse and why would you wear a skirt on a jeans day, for crying out loud, unless you were a prissy girly-girl?

Fifth grade… no curls here… you can see how straight my hair is in this one. It must have been taken in the fall because of me having a sweater on over my blouse.

And to wind up this post… sixth grade. I’m not quite sure how I created this hair style… Parted on the left side but then my bangs going from right to left. This is a very good example of how inept I was at doing my hair and I never ever improved. This is the reason I wear my hair short now and have for many years.

Well I’ve had about all the fun I can stand for tonight with school photos and it’s just after 10 p.m. so I need to get this posted to continue my posting streak. How about it? Are you brave enough to post even one ‘school photo’? After hearing people talk for years about how lousy their school pictures were I just got curious…

See y’all tomorrow! And since it will be Saturday, game day, GO O.U.!!! BOOMER SOONER!

How About This Sunset?

2010-09-09T22:46:00.001-05:00

This is another evening after working on the bedroom at my Cuz’s out in the country. I’m T.A.R.E.D. That’s Okie for really whipped out. Working on the crown molding means working over my head and I think of all the things I do that action is the one I pay for the most…

So here is a photo I took with my phone evening before last of the sunset I saw as I hit the highway to drive back to Norman after working on the bedroom on Tuesday… and, yes, Oprah, I pulled off to the side of the road before I took this shot.

If you look just above the horizon line almost to the center of the picture there was a cloud that looked like an eagle flying out of the sunset.

Maybe you can see it better here. I cropped the photo as best I could before it started falling apart, digitally… Phone cameras just aren’t as good as my regular digital camera but it was way better than no camera at all.

I hope you all have a good night and I’ll be back to more of my and my family story tomorrow… I hope. But I’ll put something on my post. Don’t want to fall out on my streak now!

The Rest On Daddy’s Side…

2010-09-08T20:38:00.000-05:00

When I left off on the last family post I had told you all about the top row and the first person on the left that was seated. That was my Aunt Sally. Next to her was her momma… Mammy Gardner. I don’t know much of anything about Mammy. She died the summer after I was born. I do know, after knowing my daddy and all my daddy’s siblings that Mammy must have had the patience of a saint.

The young man standing by Mammy is my Uncle Bob. He was the next to the youngest and the youngest boy. He and my Aunt Margaret, his second wife lived, in south Okla. City. The first time that I remember saying I would spend the night at their house, I got to crying and wanting to go home… “I want my daddy!”. They tried as best they could to calm me and my fears but ended up calling my daddy to come get me. He drove across town and picked me up. I was probably asleep before I got home. They got to do a lot of teasing after that about me having a ‘baby’ attack and being afraid to stay the night. I was probably about four.

Sitting in front of him, next to Mammy, was my Aunt Mary. She, like all the rest of them, had a pretty good sense of ornery. You get the bunch together and there would be stories on her brothers and sisters. She had a hearty laugh and I think her biggest heartbreak was not being able to have a child. She and her first husband, my Uncle Bruce, were crazy about each other. They thought they were going to have a baby but it turned out to be a tumor. A full hysterectomy followed. Thankfully it was a benign tumor. My Uncle Bruce kind of made me feel like his favorite, he called me booble dooble, kind of like Double Bubble bubble gum. He and my Aunt Mary were visiting at our home when I was about 8 or 9 and he had a massive heart attack and died on our side porch. There was a heart doctor that lived across the street and down a lot from us and someone went and got him but there was not the technology in the early Fifties that there is now and there was nothing that he was able to do for my Uncle Bruce. The last thing he told Aunt Mary was to take care of their cat, a big old yellow tabby. Aunt Mary did fall in love again, many years later, and lived the rest of her life in Tennessee.

Papa Bill Gardner is next on the roll call… He, to me, was a very gentle man. I remember Aunt Annie shaving him with a straight razor… it fascinated me to watch and she didn’t ever nick him. He had a mustache and had to use a cane to walk very much. I was probably only four or maybe five when he passed away.

Last, but definitely not least was my Aunt Fanny. Aunt Fan was married to my Uncle Ed West and they lived in Tennessee. Aunt Fanny was full of fun and a little popcorn fart of a woman and Uncle Ed wasn’t much bigger. Uncle Ed was a perfect match for her. He was ornery as all get out, loved to tease and would pinch a plug out of you and just laugh. I loved going to their home for reunions. They lived in the country and they had a colored man (that’s what they called them back in the day) whose family had worked for Uncle Ed’s family and when the slaves were freed Ed Stone’s family stayed on and worked the farm and both Eds grew up around each other. Ed Stone smoked the best Tennessee ham I ever ate. We all looked forward to breakfast more than any other meal, and we had some good meals, because Aunt Fan or Annie or Addie or mom would be in the kitchen frying up ham and making red-eye gravy to go on our biscuits and fried eggs to go along and complete the meal.

You’ve made it through my daddy’s family with quick blurbs about my Aunts and Uncles. Next time we visit my life story we will start on my momma’s side of the family… the Texas side. The side I loved more than the rest. The side I identified with as a child and wanted to be like growing up… that ought to give you a bit of a clue.

A Quickie Tonite…

2010-09-07T23:15:00.002-05:00

Unfortunately not the ‘quickie’ I would have been tempted to have back in the day but a quick post.

I went out to my Cuz’s today and worked on painting the bedroom that I had started on before I moved back to Norman. I finished putting up the ‘country crown molding’ and painted the walls. I was too whipped out to do the cove molding Cuz and Bro had decided would fancy up the country crown just a tad so I will go back tomorrow or Thursday to cut and trim out the crown. I’ll take the camera so I can post photos for y’all to see. Anyway I’m so whipped out I’m going to bed early (for me) but I didn’t want to miss putting up a post… So here, for your enjoyment and edification, are some photos I took with my phone of a Harley that was parked at WalMart a couple of days ago.

Cropped up a photo so you could for sure see the pearl handled six-shooter. Mounted on both sides of the Harley, dressed out with the fringed and studded saddlebags, but what caught my eye were the pearl handled six-shooters almost exactly like the ones I had when I was a kid. Wish I had had the time to wait and get a look at the rider.

Only in Oklahoma!!! Or maybe Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, or California… ?

My Grandparents On My Daddy's Side...

2010-09-06T18:52:00.002-05:00

These are my grandparents on my daddy’s side… I have a few memories of Papa Bill but Mammy Gardner died the summer after I was born so I have no memories of her. I remember Papa Bill had to use a cane to help him walk and I remember Aunt Annie shaving him with a straight razor.

This photo was probably taken about the time that daddy left home for John E. Brown College. Top row left to right… First up is Aunt Annie. She lived to be 99 and she loved to tat and rode the Greyhound bus back and forth between Okla. City and Tennessee and Jonesboro, Arkansas until she was in her late 80’s and she would get to know everybody on that bus every time she’d go for a trip to visit whichever kin folk she was going to see.

Next to her was my Uncle George Gardner. I don’t remember a lot about him. He was the oldest of the boys and he and his wife, Aunt Gertrude, lived in Chattanooga, Tennessee. I remember visiting their home one time. They had a wonderful screened in porch and we got to ride the cog railway up Lookout Mountain.

Of course back in the early 50’s it didn’t look near this fancy. When you got up to the top you could go to here:

Lover’s Leap. While nobody I know ever leaped I can remember that you were supposed to be able to see Alabama, Georgia and, of course, Tennessee. I ‘borrowed’ these images from a Chattanooga web site.

Next to Uncle George was my daddy. I’ll do a post on him later.

Aunt Adderine was on daddy’s left. She was the oldest of the girls. She and her husband, Newt Kimbro, lived in OKC and ran a gas station. One of my favorite memories is that they had a Model T Ford that they drove until they retired and went back to Tennessee. When Aunt Addie and Uncle Newt would come over to the house for a visit my little brother and I would beg to get to ride on the running board up the street to the stop sign when they left to go home… all of three houses up the block but it was so fun for us.

Seated from the left is my Aunt Sally. I think I loved her more than all the rest of my aunts on daddy’s side because she was one salty lady. She was more of a rebel because she met, fell in love with and married an Italian man. Even worse than, please take no offense, marrying a “wop” was she became a Catholic because that was his religion. Not being prejudiced but that is the first time I ever heard that word in relation to Uncle Tony or anyone else and the only time I heard it was when daddy was upset with something that Uncle Tony had done or something that dad perceived he had done. Mother would always say, “ Now, Stearns…’’ He’d get a handle on what ever it was and take into consideration that momma was telling him in her gentle way not to talk that way in front of us kids.

When I was 16 and we went to Wartrace, Tennessee, for our family reunion I got to go home with Aunt Sally and Uncle Tony and my two girl cousins, Sally Ann and Linda to Chicago!!! A huge town where trains were on rails up above the roads and all kinds of places that we didn’t go to… Mostly we just stayed at the house or go to friends of Sally Ann’s or be pestered or pestering Linda since she was younger than we were. They also had two of the most handsome brothers that were older than we were and pretty much didn’t want to be bothered by punk sisters and cousin. After visiting for a week I got to ride the train from Chicago to Okla.City all by myself. Boy was I “grown up”!

This is getting long so I’ll save the rest for tomorrow… See you then if you can stand it!

Let’s Start An Ongoing Story…

2010-09-05T22:52:00.001-05:00

I decided that it would be fun to do a story about me… from the beginning. A watch me grow story. I think it will be a fun way for you to get to know me. You all know that I do better story-telling when I have photos to work off of so let’s start here.

My mom and dad met back shortly after the earth was formed, back in the olden days, at John E. Brown College in Siloam Springs, Arkansas. Dad was born and raised in Tennessee and mom was born and raised in Texas. My granddaddy and grandmother Venable moved to Gentry, Arkansas, when the children were still in school. Mom was the oldest of six children, five of whom lived to adulthood. Dad was the fifth child of nine, one of which died as a child. Mom used to say that she didn’t stand a chance when it came to dad… he was spoiled by his older sisters before she ever met him. Dad would just laugh, sort of embarrassedly, but you knew he loved the attention.

My dad worked in the dairy at the school to help pay for his education. He got his degree in bookkeeping.

Mom worked in the cafeteria at the college to help pay her way through her last two years of high school and her two years of college. She got her degree in general education. Her plan was to teach until she met my dad and did, in fact, teach for a year in a one room school, first through eighth grade before they married.

This photo wasn’t dated but I figure it was around the time or shortly before they were married. Back in the day most get-togethers were reunions around marryin’ or buryin’ times so this was probably a pretty special date for them. John E. Brown College was a non-denominational Christian school and in the Twenties it wasn’t proper for a young lady and a young gentleman to do the public displays of affection and at the College they weren’t even allowed to hold hands. They would sit out on the grounds of the school after class and visit, always in groups, and mom and dad would sit kind of back to back so they could touch. That was okay, but no hand holding or necking like yard trash that you see on campuses and in the malls nowadays.

This photo, if the number on the license plate is correct, was taken the year I was born… the fifth of their six children. You will get to meet my sibs along the way and their children and grandchildren.

After all, I have sixty five years to cover… I have to figure out something to write about! James Michener I’m not.

Just A Snippet...

2010-09-04T15:38:00.003-05:00

I thought I'd better get a little something up in case I'm too tired after the game this evening to post. OU's first game is tonight and it's only on pay-per-view. A good friend called and said she was buying it and did I/we want to come watch it with her. My folks didn't raise no fools and since I didn't have to pay for it I said, "You bet!!!" Carol decided she'd like to see it, too, and she even whipped up some tortilla roll-ups for snacking.

Now to the snippet.

A friend dropped by yesterday for a visit and in the conversation said she was going to dinner at her mom and dad's and asked what we were going to do for our dinner. I told her we were going to have scraps... She looked at me oddly and I said, "you know, left-overs." The light then dawned on her and she said she had never heard left-overs called scraps.

How about it? I was raised with both phrases and I just wondered if it would be confusing for anyone else in my world. Some of the best meals we had were scraps and bits of other meals when mom would clean out the refrigerator. You notice I didn't date myself even more by saying ice box.

Scraps or left-overs or either or both?