Peachabowfumee...

My folks raised all us kids to be well spoken and polite. No cussin' allowed. If one of us would say darn, mom would say, "you might as well say damn.", and needless to say we knew better than to say damn. Same with heck, "...hell...', gosh, "..God.." and so forth. We knew that there were things that were not to pass through our lips because any stupid dolt could cuss and we should be able say what we needed to say without swearing because we were encouraged to expand our vocabulary so we wouldn't need to rely on words such as those. I guess when I was probably 12, my baby brother (9) and our best friend and next door neighbor (10) decided we would make a list of all the cuss words we knew, which would probably have been several less than George Carlin's list. We wrote the words down on a piece of paper and stashed the list in our 'treasure box', a metal BandAid box. Then we decided we needed to make up a word that we could say that didn't sound like cussin' but we, and only we, would know what the word meant and we wouldn't get in trouble that way. How we came about this word I don't think any of us remember and it would be totally speculative for me to try to explain, but whatever the method of madness was the word we came up with was "peachabowfumee". If you just sound it out as it reads, that's how it sounds in my mind to this day. Now you need to understand that I'm one of those weird people who couldn't tell you where I was, oh for instance, when Kennedy was shot or when men walked on the moon. I know they happened and I was glued to the tube as soon as I heard about the president being shot and I was probably in school watching when the astronauts walked on the moon, but I remember peachabowfumee like it was yesterday. I don't remember if any of us tried to spell it or not but that it was one of those childhood secrets held near and dear and not to be shared with anyone else, but we would be the only ones who would know...

So if any of your children and/or grandchildren come up with some strange word that they use and then look at each other and laugh hysterically, you might think of this post and know that they are living a childhood that they will remember and smile about when they get old.

Oh, and yes, mom found the BandAid box, emptied the contents and left it on the kitchen cabinet for a couple of days... and she never said a word, because she knew that we knew she knew, and we learned from it. How cool was my mom?!!!

It's Freakin' Hot!

It is 8 p.m. Sunday evening and it is 100 degrees outside. I would love to be outside working in the yard, but I walk out for 5 minutes and I'm sweating like the dickens. I have decided that you can get sore from overworked sweat glands. I have been so sore today all over and I didn't do much of anything yesterday but sweat when I was cutting grass on the riding mower.. even my eyelids were sweating. I think after all these years I'm truly learning why folks call them lazy summer days, and I'm working on perfecting being lazy when it's this hot.

Thank God for air conditioners...

The Good Old Days...

I was over at WWOW earlier and Hallie was talking about the Iguana, one of her and BK's favorite 'watering' spots, and it set me to thinking about some of the joints, er...nightclubs that I use to visit when I was way younger. Most of those dives, er... disco clubs and, ummm, well, beer joints have all been shut down, bulldozed, burned down or just left to rack and ruin. I will have to say that I've never been much of one to drink and back when I first started going to clubs (yes, I waited until I was 'legal') I didn't drink at all but I did enjoy dancing and really enjoyed playing pool. A bartender at one joint called me the o.j. kid because that's what I drank, well that and diet coke back then. I would go to where ever I was going that night, get my o.j. or soda and put my quarter on the pool table and would generally play all evening while nursing my one or two drinks.... unless my brothers came in to play a little pool with me and those were the nights I had to be really on my game or I'd get whipped all over the place and run out of quarters. We've always been very competitive and we always tried to 'keep the table' and make the other bar goers pay for the privilege of playing some 8-ball. I've been accused of being a pool shark by some, but I think what helped me out more than practicing or playing against my brothers was the fact that everybody else would be having a drink or two or ...

What a nice walk down memory lane... without the stale beer and cigarette smells...

It got to 104 today with a heat factor of 108... anybody want to come visit in Oklahoma? I stayed inside from about 1:30 on this afternoon, trying to stay cool. Hope you all are cooler than we are...

Helen

Update...

Guess I ought to give you all an update on Missy's snake bite. She is doing better each day. Her ability to move her finger is almost back to normal and no, it's not the one she flips at me, if she would ever do anything like that.. It's the ring finger of her right hand. The bruising is going away finally. The snake only got her with one fang on the ring finger of her right hand next to where the pinkie lays, between the first and second joint. Her second joint swelled (swolled=Okie) up about 4 times normal. We weren't sure that it wasn't going to burst open at any moment. It was so swollen that her finger was weeping sera out of the pores along the top of her finger. But the doctors and nurses watched her carefully through the night and determined that it was safe to bring her home, but if there was any more swelling, pain and/or fever I was to get her back to the ER, so she got watched a lot at home also. I know that she is feeling better because she announced this evening that she is going Friday to Noble's City Wide Garage sale and if anyone else wants to go she is leaving at 8 a.m. and that's that!!

Thank you Lord for the small miracles in our life.

Keep it between the lines and stay cool. This heat is dangerous.

SNAKE !!!

I guess I'm one of those people that kind of diddy-bop through life with my head in the clouds or in the place where the sun never shines, but I've never really worried about snakes. When I was a child I dreamed about rattlesnakes, a lot, but that's for another day. When I was much younger than I am now, I worked out in the oil patch down in southern Oklahoma, but that, too, is another story for another day. Yesterday it really came home to me about snakes. I have to say that I have piddled around all of this 3 acres and the only time I've seen a snake was when I was mowing on the riding mower. I go out with my girls and we play ball and we weed and we garden and a lot of the time I'm barefoot with no gloves on. If I see grass or weeds in the flower bed I pull 'em. Never a thought about it. Yesterday my roommate and I had been out pulling up grass around one of the flower beds and after 45 minutes or so we came in for a break and a cool down. I was messing on the computer and she went out to do
some more and in about two minutes was back at the front door and said, "I need your help." So I went out and she said "a snake bit me and I think you should see if you can find it." No panic, no problem. So I followed her out (did I mention that she was in her motorized wheelchair?) and she showed me where she had been digging out grass. I poked around and couldn't see anything and after a couple of minutes told her that I'd try to find it, but I thought we ought to go to the ER now because it takes 25-30 minutes to drive in. By the time we get to the ER, her finger is swelling pretty good and it is hurting like a big dog. It probably would have been hurting more than she realized if her back hadn't started spazzing really, really bad on the way in and that took her mind off the snake bite... I'm talking worse than I've seen her back grab her in over 20 years. Anyway, we got into the room and the doc comes in and makes all these marks on her hand to where the swelling is at that point and asks if we know what kind of snake got her. Of course neither of us did and he says that from the swelling and all he'd bet it was a poisonous snake. Okay, we can deal with that... she's in the hospital where they can take care of her. He decided after a couple of hours that he wanted her to stay and be observed overnight, which is also okay because he's pushed a lot of muscle relaxers and pain drugs into her iv and I figure she will sleep for the next couple of hours or weeks. I drove back to get her some things for overnight and decided that I needed to try to find 'the snake'. Here sister took the bag back in to town to the hospital and I go poking around (after I put on shoes and heavy gloves) digging around where she was earlier. By this time it's 100 degrees out so I'd dig and pull grass some and take a break, cool down and go back out and dig some more. Her sister got back as I was going out the third time and did not volunteer to come help me, but that's okay too because I didn't want to run over her jumping up if I find the little bugger and sure enough, the third time was the charm. I found it. Being a city girl I had no idea what kind it was when I saw it so I got the scoop out of the box where I keep the birdseed and managed to get it into it, twice. He jumped out once and the next time I covered it up with my digging tool and headed to the house... then realized I couldn't open the door without taking a chance on losing it, the snake, I mean, because I was holding the scoop with one hand and the digging tool with the other. I knocked on the sister's window, scaring her because she knew what I was doing and she was afraid it had gotten me also. Nope... just bring me something with a lid on it so I can call the hospital and see if they want me to bring it to them to identify. I got the snake contained, called the hospital and they didn't know what to do so the nurse was going to ask the doctor and call me back. While I waited I went looking, googled Oklahom snakes and as soon as I clicked on this picture -

http://www.oksnakes.org/index.cfm?snakeID=8&venomous=0&patterned=1&striped=0&solid=0&all=0


her sister and I both said "that's it!!!" A western pygmy rattlesnake, a baby because it didn't have any rattles yet. I called the hospital and told the nurse. She didn't know if the doc wanted to see it yet so I told her I'd put it in the freezer and put it to sleep and if the doc wanted it he could call.

I got Missy out of the hospital this morning. They didn't have to administer anti-venom which is a good thing because they say it makes you sicker than a dog... and you can put money on it that I won't be going out barefoot and pulling grass willy-nilly without my heavy gloves on again, because, as my brother put it, where there's smoke there's fire and snakes don't birth one baby at a time. When we got home I pulled the snake out of the freezer and made her look at it and sure enough it was the same one she saw after she got bit... or it's twin (or triplet or ???). But any way you look at it, it's one less venomous snake on our place and, no, Missy didn't want me to try to fry up rattlesnake for her...

Home...

I don't know about the rest of you, but there's always been certain landmarks that hold meanings for me. When I drive home from Texas and see this particular view, it means, more than any other scenery, I'm almost home. I know, I know... I cross the Red River, the border between Texas and Oklahoma, and that, too, is an indicator, but this particular area has always defined "home", and I find my foot a little heavier on the gas and a little more anxious to get home and get back to my furbabies, my flowers and my garden.

Well, I'm home, the babies were very excited to see me and I'm back in touch with the land... digging potatoes, onions, picking tomatoes,weeding, watering and mowing and it was 100 degrees out yesterday and is supposed to get to 101 today... Whew. If I ever win the lottery I'll get a small tractor with an air conditioner... among other things. Crap, I've got to remember to buy the dang lottery tickets.

Stay cool...

A Cat's Tale...(or Tail)

You've heard me refer to my brothers as having as warped a sense of humor as I have... I thought it was time for an introduction and an example of familial weirdness.

The instigator, the guy behind the camera, my baby brother... The innocent bystander, his wife and the mother to the kitty babies we are going to visit in this blog today.















This is the incentive. We call her Dot. She is a laser point.















This is the perpetrator, Molly, a Maine Coon kitty approximately 4 months old.





















This is Samson, the cat from Hell, the bedeviler of Dallas, a wonderful black lab that has gone over the rainbow bridge. Sam would jump on him, bite him and generally just drive the poor old man to distraction. Dallas asked God to send someone to be his payback to Samson.

















My brother, while entertaining us all with Molly chasing Dot, decided to see what she would do if Dot was on Sam... this is the first hit...

















Next thing you know Molly jumps on Sam and the wrestling match was on. Check out the teeth at the top of the photo...

















Miss Molly, satisfied that her job is done, licks her chops and settles for, oh, maybe a minute..
















Okay, Pop, I've rested... Got another assignment for me? I'm ready to go again.















God did good...

This tale (or tail) will, I'm sure, re-visit us from time to time...coinciding with my Ft. Worth visits.

Hug you children a lot, be they 2 legged or 4 legged, furry or not.

Have a good weekend.