Death, Life and Broccoli…

I know that some people that don’t know my weird sense of humor would think that the title of my post is not very empathetic or appropriate but it was the only thing that popped into my head when I started to write this post. 

I got the call from baby brother this morning that my brother-in-law died early this morning.  Believe me when I say that it was a blessing.  If you have ever lost anyone to a terminal disease, while you don’t want to lose your loved one, the last thing you want is for them to linger on and have to deal with a lot of suffering.  I talked to my sis and she was very relieved that he was surrounded by love and family and while she knew that there would some rough times for her ahead,  she was so thankful and at peace with his passing because she didn’t want him to suffer.  Sue, my sister, has very strong belief in God and the faith that Bill is in a far better place and not suffering anymore uplifts her and gives her strength.

The life part of this post? Earlier in the week I had made an appointment to get a haircut today.  It has been rainy and unusually cool for this time of year in Oklahoma the last couple of days and will continue on for this week and I didn’t want to stir from my nice warm bed all cuddled up with my furbabies.  After my brother called to tell me about Bill I knew it would be useless to drift back to sleep.  I made some family calls and then it was time to drive to Norman to get my haircut.  Walter drove me and he, too, got his haircut, we ran some errands and came back home.  I was tired, hurting from the shingles, the fibro raising cain with me because of the weather and all I wanted to do to stretch out on the bed, take my meds and veg out for a while until I walked to the back door and looked out…

Needless to say I had to get my camera and go out to get some photos to share with you all.

The babies… I love having them where I can watch them.

The moms may not be right next to their babies but, believe me, they are ever vigilant.  They have their side of the fence and I have mine and all is right with the world.

Despite the hurting, both physical and emotional, these sights reminded me of the renewal of life.  That is part and parcel of this thing we call life…

The cycles.  We are born, we grow up, some of us marry and birth the babies that start the next cycle.  We continue to grow and to try to help the next generation learn the things they need to know to get them through the tough times, get them standing on their own two feet and if you are lucky, as Sue and Bill were during their 48 years of married life, they raised their four boys and Bill lived long enough see their grandchildren and celebrate their children’s joy at the birth of their children.  Their grandchildren had the chance to meet and get to know their grandfather and even the little ones will have some memories of their grandfather.  Their grandmother, my sister, along with their sons will keep his memory alive through the multitude of stories that Bill and his brothers and his one sister have lived and told over the years and, believe me, there is a boat load of them and there will be lots of laughter filling my sister’s home and heart again…

Oh, yes… the broccoli…

From the last post…

I picked it. 

And my cousin made her baked potato soup while we were gone to get our haircuts because she knew it is a comfort food for me, but tonight she added a twist to it… baked potato and broccoli soup.  It warmed not only my tummy but also soothed my heartache  for my sister and her family’s loss and reaffirmed that there is still a lot of good left in this life.  And some of it I helped to grow.

WoooHoooo!!!

I'm back on-line. I actually was able to follow Bro's instructions and hook up to my Cuz's computer. And it worked! Tomorrow I'll be out with my camera if I can find which box it's in and take some photos so you can see the place and meet the critters, at least the ones that live here. Spud is a Jack Russell and he is in hog heaven. My Cuz says he thinks he has his own harem even though he and the girls all are 'fixed' they run around and check out all the trees and leaves and SueSue and he play chase some until the Spud gets too rambunctious as Jack Russell terriers tend to get and then she just ducks because he is jumpin' over her and around her. They all three like being around each other and Spud comes in and gets in bed with me and the girls and sometimes he and Suess nap on my bed. We both have decided that he's glad for short legged critters being around. Lucky is the outdoor dog. He has a short weak front leg that he can use somewhat and he is such a sweet dog. My cousin's late husband came carryin' him. He had found him and brought him home as a pup and thus the name Lucky.

It is so nice to get up in the morning and look out the window and see the cows grazing out in the pasture or just to go out and feel the sun on my face and the breeze through my hair and to know this peace inside again. And to know that my world is starting to level out and I love my Cuz all the more for opening her home to me. Her son came by the first day I was here and helped me unload my truck and told me he was glad that I was here. He was thinking it will be good for his momma to not be here by herself. I told him that I was the fortunate one to have a close enough relationship with her and was looking forward to be able to visit and get to know him and his sister and her three girls better. I'll be going to basketball games to help Granny yell for the granddaughters and Cuz and I are looking forward to taking the metal detector out to several places around the land they own that were old homesteads and her youngest granddaughter is faunching at the bit to go out hunting with Granny (my Cuz) and Helen looking for treasure. When she saw the metal detector Wednesday evening she wanted to go looking right then... I told her it was getting pretty cool and it was dark so not tonight... She said, "Granny has a big flashlight in her closet!" She sure made it difficult to not go right then but I told her we needed to wait until Saturday.

This is going to be such fun but I have to say that I already have my treasure. I have family that loves and wants me to be around and to be happy and peaceful.

I have the greatest Christmas gift that I could ever have been given.

Schnauzer Sandwich...

I have these two silly, lovable furbabies that like to be touching mom especially at bedtime. They move around sometimes but generally this is how we three end up in the bed.


I just happened to be sitting up reading and looked down and said, "Self... you've got to figure out how to slip out from between these two and reach the camera and document this because people are gonna say no way that they can get this close".






"SueSue's on the left of me, Chloe's on the right, here I am stuck in the middle of you...


My skin is so white except for my farmer's tan that if I dared to expose my midsection it would bring to mind a double stuffed Oreo but I don't want to take a chance on running anyone off screaming into the night.

When we first go play golf in the spring after the winter in long pants my baby brother tells me he's seen darker legs in the chicken section at Winn-Dixie, a grocery chain in Ft. Worth. I guess if I were smartI'd go to the tanning booth before spring but not being a very good golfer I need all the help I can get and I figure if the sun hits my legs just right it will blind whoever I'm playing with and I can maybe pick up a stroke or two.

But that wasn't what I had planned on sharing with you all this evening. Only how nice it is when the weather gets cold to have my own little heaters keeping me warm at night.







Chloe on the right all snugged up warming mom and yet watching over me, thus the butt towards me (she does not get a treat of beans) and the head looking toward the foot of the bed so she can protect me in case anyone tries to creep into my bed (fat chance).








And my darling, dingy, blonde (despite the fact that she's silver)
Suess on the left giving mom all the warm loving I can handle so that maybe when we get up and around tomorrow I'll play ball with her even though it will be ass-freezing cold...
She will talk me into it a time or two during the day and Chloe will just look at us like we've both lost our minds unless there is snow on the ground. If there is snow on the ground, Chloe will buck and cavort like a pup and bite the snow and Suess will bite the snow and chase balls in it and think it is a real treat. And Mom will just shake her head and laugh at them both.

Now you know what a truly exciting life I live, butt to butt to butt...

Ain't love just awesome!

THE Wedding, Part Two…

I know it’s awful to put yet another photo of the wedding cake but we are moving on to the reception momentarily… But first… a word from from her parents… (D. Menard)

My brother Ben and his wife Diane after the ceremony… note the big smiles… no words, however, I fibbed about that part... but the picture says a thousand words.  They do both love Tyler and that’s great.  They know he will love and honor Laura and she’s as crazy about him as he is about her.   (D. Menard)

The groom’s cake.  Tyler, besides being a huge OU fan since he graduated from OU and was president of his fraternity, is a huge Red Sox fan.  The  cake was chocolate… and despite his choice of teams (being a Texas Rangers fan myself) the cake was almost as good as the bride’s cake.  Yes, I ate a piece of both.  My job is to share photos with you and to report things as they really were, keeping it real, you know.  (D. Menard)

I think that the kids are having too much fun… which is totally as it should be…  (D. Menard)

Tyler is doing such a good job of  getting out a piece of cake after he and Laura made the first cut. They were so sweet to each other, not shoving the cake in each others faces… (D. Menard)

The toast… now we are getting something to wet the whistle and wash down the cake…  (D. Menard)

Shall we dance? Shall we dance with each other, shall we fly?  (name that movie)  They look so right for each other and so at ease… I think the rest of the world could have disappeared at this moment and all would have still been right in their world.    (D. Menard)

The first dance with Pop.  Bless his heart, he had been dealing with a bad back for several weeks, but he managed to not only walk Laura down the aisle, give her away and pull off  his dance with her.  Brother of mine, you came through for the Baby Girl… (D. Menard)

  The dancing commenced.  The girl in the front green dress is my niece, at least I more than claim her since she is married to my nephew Paul… And is the mother of the incredible Max… I’ll introduce you to him one of these days.  I think they were doing the Cotton-eyed Joe here.   Those line dances fascinate me… probably because I have two left feet.

Mom was boogeying down while getting her cake…

Now get me some iced tea to wash it all down…

Diane and her best friend for many years and my friend that let me swipe some of her photos for these wedding posts, Devonna Menard.  I so thank you for sharing with me, Bonna, so I could share with everyone that wanted to read about this shindig. You  snapped a bunch of good photos and they have sure helped me put my thoughts into the words I wanted to share…

Pop and their beloved pastor, T.C. , in deep conversation at the reception.  I don’t know what it was all about…

But this photo looked to me like the caption should be, “Don’t tell me that it’s not legal!”  Most likely they were swapping golf stories and it was so loud they had to huddle up to hear.

You want to see the most handsome fellow at the wedding? 

The man that stole my heart?

The one I can’t leave out of this joyous post? 

The grand finale?

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We all celebrated and this boy said it all without a word…  He’s Laura’s nephew, Elijah,  just walking good and he was such a good boy during the wedding.  He was dancing around at the church while all the photos were being taken after the wedding and I managed to get these photos and I had to share…

I hope I’m still around to see him grown up, in love,

And dancing at his own wedding… even though it will break my heart that it won’t be me he will be marrying…

TTttthhhhhat’s all folks.  Thank you for letting me share my joy and happiness about this union.

Laura and Tyler walk hand in hand and hand in hand with their Father and his son Jesus so they will have the Great Counselor guiding them through their long, loving, life together.

Bosoms, Buddies: Part Deux

When I was about twenty one I decide to bite the bullet and take the matters in hand, as it were, and see if there was anything I could do to assist Mother Nature.  A very sincere friend told me if I could get fitted in a bra that wasn’t padded the girls might have room to grow.

So with high hopes and a good amount of gullibility I set off on the mission to become more,  ummm, boobalicious.

Back in the day, 40+ years ago, the upscale department store in Oklahoma City was John A. Brown’s.  It is now known as Dillard’s, but back then it was still John A. Brown’s.  Please excuse the wandering back in time. It seems to happen a lot these days… Now, where was I?

Oh, yes.  Taking affirmative steps to prove or disprove the validity of the claim of non-padded bras.  I am, if nothing else, enthusiastic in the pursuit.  I don’t know why.  The girls, although miniscule have done fine up to this point, but I digress.

I confidently stride into the lingerie department and head for foundations.  Here is where it starts getting dicey.  The saleslady approaches me and in a kindly, but professional tone said, “May I help you sir?” 

I started to turn on my heel and hot-foot it out the door, but I took a deep breath and said, “I’m a young woman and I need to try to get fitted for a non-padded bra.”

Mind you while I did have on casual clothes and my hair was short, though not as short as now, I did have on a padded bra at the time.  Anyway, the saleslady kind of arched her eyebrow and asked me to follow her to the fitting room.  Well, I disrobed, which was traumatic enough being shy back in the day, and the lady took her measurements that she needed and went on the quest.

When she returned with several possibilities in hand we started trying them on.  I kid you not, every single bra I tried on, and there were a few, you could roll up the cup, the A-cup I might add, you could roll it up and pin it and it wouldn’t have made a difference.  Bless her heart, the lady tried, she did. Made several trips out to try different brand names.  After the last round she very kindly suggested that I might try the juniors department. Perhaps they could help me there.  I thanked her for her patience, dressed and walked straight out of the store and never looked back.

Fast forward now to Christmas when I was sixty years old.  I was in Ft. Worth at Ben and Diane’s (baby brother and s.i.l.) and we were opening gifts. Ben handed me a package and I looked and saw it was from Laura, the niece that is getting married next month.  I proceeded to open it with all eyes upon me and it was two brassieres from Victoria’s Secret.  I know I must have gone red with embarrassment because there are some things that you don’t want to open on Christmas with everyone watching. Laura, in her sweetest voice said, “Aunt Helen, you need to start wearing a bra.”

Do you have any idea how difficult it is to get used to wearing a bra after sixty years of not wearing a bra?

With age and menopause combined, the forty pounds I put on had endowed me somewhat, and I guess the tank top tees and the loose t-shirt or tops over them wasn’t enough to not embarrass the kid.

So the two things I’ve been making myself do for this month before the wedding is wearing shoes when I go out to dig in the flower beds and garden because it is dang hard cleaning the dirt out from under toenails and…

Wearing a bra of some sorts, whether it’s a jog bra or a regular one, so I won’t be fidgeting and pulling at it during the wedding and reception.

That’s my bosom tale and it is a true story. 

I hope to post some more corn another corn post this evening.  Enjoy your Sunday.

Time To Go...

Don't these two look kinda lonesome? These are the last of a fantastic first litter.

The darker brindle pup is the little girl that I fell in love with and the lighter brindle pup is a little boy that our friend Pat fell for...

Unfortunately with 5 people and 3 dogs already at our home we could only love them from afar.

My niece sent these photos to me since I'm in Texas for Christmas and she knows I have pupaholics that drop by to check on their progress.

The other 4 puppies have gone to good homes,
Christmas surprises all. They were getting such cute personalities and starting to worm their way in to hearts at home.

Nancy and Steve were both saying last week when I was there that they had to get these pups to new homes. They were both getting too attached to them.

I sure can't fault them for that 'cause I was getting attached myself and I was only seeing them once a week.

I guess we all will have to wait until around this time next year for our next round of puppy fixes, and I know it will be very hard to wait, at least for me... and Nancy and Steve... and several of you who like my puppy fixes. Dang.

But let me ask you something... Is it just my imagination or is Maddie smiling about breast feeding being almost finished?

I Love My Gloves...

You know, somehow one of the things I never thought I'd be professing love for would be a pair of gloves.

But these gloves, these gloves I love. I keep track of them and don't just take them off and put down anywhere. I usually put them right by the front door on the floor or on the floor right by my chair.

When I go out to do anything outside, I usually tuck them in the back of my Levi's until I'm ready to do the weed-eating, digging in the in the garden or the flower bed.

Are you getting my drift? I love my gloves. They helped me to catch a snake, pull out an incredible amount of weeds and brush, they've protected my hands pulling dead wood out of the trees, running the chainsaw, the cultivator in the garden, mowers and weed-eaters.

When I recently went with my Bro to Ft. Worth to move his stuff out of storage my gloves went with me on both trips.

On the second trip, coming home, my little pickup started coughing and sputtering and choking and I told Bro to pull over and stop.

I'm also very attached to my little Ranger pick-up. I was worn out, it was after dark, I don't deal well with stress and I was getting stressed not knowing if my p.u. was breathing it's last breath or what.

Of all the stupid things I've done in my life, the one, for sure, smart thing I've done is my AAA
membership. I've been a member since 1969 and for the last 10 or 12 years I've gotten the more expensive, 100 mile tow package. If you, like me, drive older, well used vehicles you need to
work that expense into your budget.

If not AAA, some type of auto assistance club. I called my 800 number and before long, the operator had the wrecker service in my area call me. He assured me that they could load my truck and pull the loaded trailer, too, so I wouldn't have to set out in the cold and wait for my niece to come hook up her pick-up and pull the trailer to the house. So what does that have to do with my gloves?

My gloves were the only thing, besides my Diet Pepsi, that I took out of my truck. I tucked them in the back of my Levi's, as usual. The tow driver was wonderful. He took Bro and I home, unhooked the trailer where we asked and then took my pick-up to the repair shop in Norman.

Since we had been on the side of the road for a while and I'd been out in the cold for a while and I wouldn't go pee behind the trailer like Bro, when I got to the house I told Carol I would tell her all about the pickup in a minute. I headed for my bathroom, dropped trou and, sweet relief... then I got up and turned to flush.

You're right. My gloves hit the pot. I gingerly fished them out and laid them in the tub to dry.
Did you know that you can wash heavy leather gloves? Yep, you can. But with the dogs, I'm now afraid to leave my gloves on the floor. You see, their sense of smell is so great and I've seen them pee where each other has peed, trying to show that they are the top dog, so I figure, even after washing, they will be peeing on my favorite gloves...

Their one chance to tell mom that they're are boss.