Roadkill (maybe?)

Hi all - thought I'd stop in for a quick check-in. I promised to have a new post up this week, but a few wrenches have been thrown our way and time has been precious. I've checked in on a few of you (I can't stay away) and my thoughts & prayers have been with those I know are having problems.

I ran into this little guy this morning on the way to work (not literally). I stopped to get a sausage biscuit at our local McDonald's (the slowest one in the state of Texas) and this booger was strolling around in the parking lot. Now mind you, this is quite a busy street in our little town, and it was totally out of character for a wild animal to be at this particular location.

I say "strolling"... he was actually wandering around in circles, head down, confused, staggering, falling down, getting back up. RABIES, I imagine. There were several people standing around outside keeping a watchful eye and someone was going to call the Animal Control folks to come get him. I had to go on to work.

Poor little guy. If he DIDN'T have rabies, then there was certainly something else wrong with him. My son Josh was in the car with me, and there were people waiting in line after me. But whoa, a PHOTO OP! Who's gonna pass up a good photo op for blog fodder! I keep my camera in the car alot (now that it's not 103 degrees), so I whooped out my camera like a six-gun and snapped off a couple of photos before gittin my breakfast. (maybe that's why our McDonalds is the slowest one in the state of Texas??? Maybe there are other people who also like to take pictures at McDonalds???) Anyway, I felt sorry for the raccoon - I'm sure he was about to meet his demise either way - if Animal Control didn't get him purty quick, he was sure to get creamed out on the highway and be roadkill for some buzzard's supper!

Which brings to mind a story - my nanny had a couple of pet 'coons when she was a kid. She said they were lots of fun and would come and dig food out of her pockets (or anybody else's) and look for food in her hair and behind her ears - she said it tickled. Until the male reached puberty - then he got mean, and she had to take him to the woods to let him go.

End of story - wasn't that interesting??

'Nuff said - I'll be back later hopefully - we had a great 50th Party for my sis. More to come....

THE END.

The Big 5-0

My sister is having a surprise 50th B-day party tomorrow and we'll be out of town for a couple of days. I promise to have a post up and running when we get back. It's been crazy busy around here which makes me brain-dead and unable to come up with anything interesting to say. And raining every single day for nearly a week now, but I'm not complaining. It's been nice and a bit cooler. I will be back next week & try to catch you up on what's going on around my neck 'o 'the woods! Have a wonderful weekend!!!

These pics were from last fall, but I'm in such a fallish mood, I wanted to see them, too! Hope you enjoy!!!

Where There is Faith

Good morning all. Sometimes life brings our way struggles, issues, pain, misunderstanding, illnesses... we all have it, we all experience it. This past week and weekend have been very emotionally gut-wrenching, watching my dear cousin, Debra, deal with the disposal of her parents' house and belongings. She was such a daddy's girl and she talked to her daddy every single day on the phone since they did not live in the same town. Her mother had had quite an ordeal, going slowly downhill with her health in the last couple of years, and Debra's daddy was the caregiver. He was tender, never tiring, taking care of his "sweetheart" for oh so long. They'd been married 50+ years. Debra and her kids gathered up things from the house that meant something to them (photos, mementos, etc) and things that they'd use, sold alot of the rest. I bought my uncle's tiller for my garden and my aunt's canning supplies.

It was a long hot humid weekend. The A/C went out in the house and it was miserable. But it had to be done - the estate sale. What memories we watched going out the door in the hands of the customers that came to the sale! It was hard. In our cleaning, we came across photo albums of newlyweds - her folks - and babies, and friends, and holidays, and all those things that make a family a family. We had no time to sit and grieve and remember. My cousin fought back the tears and did what she had to do. All we could so was scoop up all those treasures and pack them away for her to go through later on. The loss of her parents was just too recent. I don't know how she did it. We prayed together several times, she and I and a couple of her friends that came to help. What will she do now? How is she going to deal with this tremendous grief?

I am reminded of a song by "4 Him" that I've loved for years, that has strengthened me through several rough times, a song that is based on the Bible teachings of faith and God's love. I'm sure alot of you know it. I haven't heard it played on the radio in quite awhile because it is a little older song. But Saturday, twice, once running an errand for Debra and again when I was driving home from the sale, I heard it. I think the Lord was trying to tell me something. I think He was AGAIN sending His peace from the words of this song through the air waves for me to hear, and to know that He IS the God of all comfort, and that all we have to do is have a little faith in Him.

WHERE THERE IS FAITH
I believe in faithfulness
I believe in giving of
myself for someone else
I believe in peace and love
I believe in honesty
and trust but it’s not enough
For all that I believe may never change the way
it is
Unless I believe Jesus lives

CHORUS
Where there is faith
There is a voice
calling, keep walking
You’re not alone in this world
Where there is
faith
There is a peace like a child sleeping
Hope everlasting in He who is
able to
Bear every burden, to heal every hurt in my heart
It is a
wonderful, powerful place
Where there is faith

There’s a man across the sea
Never heard the sound of freedom
ring
Only in his dreams
There’s a lady dressed in black
In a motorcade
of cadillacs
Daddy’s not coming back
Our hearts begin to fall
And our
stability grows weak
But Jesus meets our needs if only we believe

CHORUS.

I wonder if my cousin knows this song??? Think I'll send it to her. Thank you ALL so much for your prayers, your kind words, and your encouragement. I know she'll be sad for a long time to come, and so will I. I'm glad she's a Christian, and she knows where her strength comes from. So I will not post on this topic anymore. God bless you all for your good and kind hearts.

Family Business

Hi dear friends - been out awhile - my cousin is having to disperse with her parents' house and belongings. I helped her have an estate sale this week and weekend, and I've been out. It's not over with yet, as we still have quite a bunch of stuff. We'll be trying to contact 2nd hand shops, flea market folks, antique dealers, floral shops (my aunt was a silk florist) to see if we can find any takers. Keep my cousin, Debra, in your prayers. She's had SO much to deal with with the death of both parents the same week, taking care of the estate, the bills, the sale, etc. I don't really think she's had time to grieve yet. She is coming to the farm with me this weekend to get away for a while and relax. I hope it will help her. There's still so much to be done....

First Day of School

I'm thinking about school starting and wondering if your memories are like mine? I remember being SO excited about starting school. My mom or my Nanny would have made me a new dress and I would have on my brand new clean Keds. Me and my two bestest friends were all going to school together. We found out we were going to all be in the same first grade class with Mrs. Smith. She was a wonderful older woman, and so sweet and grandmotherly. She gave good hugs. I remember when we went into the classroom for the first time, I felt so grown up and yet a little scared, too. Mrs. Smith smiled and asked us our names and she gathered us all up and we reluctantly let go of our mothers' hands & waived goodbye. That's a big step - letting go - the first of many for the rest of your life....

Mrs. Smith showed us where to put our lunchboxes - behind the blackboard. Did ya'll have those huge slide up blackboards like we did? They slid up kinda like a roll-up door only just to the ceiling and we put our coats, hats, satchels, & lunchboxes behind there and then Mrs. Smith would slide the blackboard back down when it was time for class. All the girls were giggly, the boys were a little quiet and got-off-with, but after a few days, of course, they'd be acting like boys again. After the tardy bell rang, Mrs. Smith asked everyone to rise and we said the pledge of allegiance for the very first time. It would take a few days for everyone to remember all the words. We gradually learned our national anthem, and then we said The Lord's Prayer. How I miss that!

Out of our satchels we pulled our school supplies - our #2 big fat pencils, our Big Chief Tablets, paste, safety scissors, and our brand new box of Crayolas. I remember that smell like it was yesterday! New Crayolas - I loved them! Of course we had the big fat ones and ONLY 8. No more! Not until we were in 3rd or 4th grade could we have the boxes of 16 or 24. My friend, Karen, I was jealous of later, cuz her mother got her a box of 64 AND it had a sharpener in the back!!!!

After practicing the terrifying and difficult task of learning to print our letters over the dotted lines, Mrs. Smith would show us some simple math and let us try some problems and later we'd practice learning some new words. Remember Dick & Jane? I know you do! I thought it was SO COOL that I could read!!!

I remember not having air conditioning (and not noticing that it bothered me until I reached Jr. High) and the push out windows being opened. We always had fans running in the class.Sometimes a bee would come in, sometimes it would rain and I can still remember the way the rain smelled, sometimes I'd catch myself staring outside daydreaming or watching another class on the playground. When it was our turn to go outside, we ran and played and came back in all sweaty smelling like little stinky dogs, hair in damp tendrils stuck on our faces and necks and dirt on our new Keds. Drinks of water from the fountain for everyone and then off to lunch! I'm pretty sure I had a Palladin lunchbox - no girly stuff for me! Palladin was my hero!

A funny story about lunchtime. My mother always made me PBJ sandwiches for lunch. That's the only kind I'd eat, with a piece of fruit, maybe some chips & a Twinkie or cupcake. And how cool was it to have your very own thermos to hold some hot soup in the wintertime! One time my mom forgot to put the PB and jelly in the sandwich and just packed the bread - nothing on it! I was so mortified when I opened my lunch that I didn't tell my friends, I just ate it without anyone knowing. I couldn't believe my mother did that to me! I know it was an accident, but when you're 6, you don't understand. I never told her I don't guess, cuz I brought it up recently at a family gathering and we were all laughing about it - Mom did not remember! I hope it didn't permanently scar me! haha -

After lunch we'd all lay our heads down on our desks and Mrs. Smith would read from a book everyday and some would doze, some would listen to the story, some would goof off and Mrs. Smith would make them stand in the corner. Believe it or not, I had to stand in the corner occasionally myself. Oops! It was hard to be quiet when your two best friends were in the same class with you! We didn't get to sit together for very long...

Come 2 o'clock when the bell rang, it was such a relief to line up at the door and get hugs from Mrs. Smith and go to the horseshoe drive to wait for our moms to pick us up. Pushing and shoving and laughing, teachers fussing for us to be quiet, books being dropped and getting elbowed with others' satchels and lunchboxes. The first day of school - I remember it just like yesterday! What were your first memories of starting school?