Frankie and Slim

Frankie and Slim
Happy New Year

Friday, August 27, 2010

NO LONGER LOST IN CYBERSPACE




The website classmates.com now has some high school yearbooks available for viewing. I found my yearbook from my Oklahoma Junior year. I probably own this yearbook from 1963 but have no idea where it might be. My sister's husband's yearbook from 1957 Oklahoma was online and I found two of Ron;s four brother's yearbooks from 1957, Illinois. The pages above are from my yearbook and I have printed my name in gold above each picture of me.

The band picture is only half of the band and I'm not sure if I was first chair saxophone or last chair saxophone. Okay, I'm pretty sure I was last chair:)

It will be fun to keep checking and see if other books appear. I do not know if people are downloading the books themselves or if classmates.com is gathering them and loading them. Do you know if your high school yearbook is there?

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Now an update about the goats. It seems that sweet little Tandy Kid is turning into a bully billy. He rules the goat pen and drives the other goats crazy plus he is not even two months old yet and is already attempting to mount the other goats, including his mother! Now we know where the expression "horny as a billy goat" comes from.

Monday, August 23, 2010

TWO GIRLS A WAGON A WATERMELON

Yesterday evening we were winding down from a busy weekend. A soft knock at the door yielded our neighbor's daughter Trinity and her friend Charlene (both 9 years old). The girls had been fishing and were dressed in their bathing suits with over sized t-shirts for cover ups. Their faces were filled with laughter and fun as they announced proudly that they had brought us a watermelon. Sure enough they had transported the watermelon through our field to the house in a little red wagon.

The girls came in and we thanked them and I got two dozen eggs for them to take back home in the wagon. But first we had to stop and see the goats in their new pen and let the girls pet them and give them a little sweet feed.

Then these two tiny giggling girls in their big flopping shirts were on their way home. It was decided that Charlene would pull the wagon with Trinity inside holding the eggs. At this point I was fairly certain the eggs would not arrive safely at grandma's house.

The girls struggled with the wagon trying to maneuver it over the brush and high grass and I made a minor suggestion that Charlene ride since she did not have shoes and Trinity do the pulling. Charlene assured me she never wore shoes and had walked over hot coals as a child. Plus the girls were bound and determined to figure this out for themselves.

Suddenly grandmother showed up in the pickup truck wondering what was taking the girls such a long time to deliver a watermelon. She saw them struggling with the wagon and instructed them very strongly to not try and pull each other through the tall grass and to get home as fast as they could. I was very happy to give grandma the eggs so I didn't have to worry about the girls breaking them.

Grandma left, I went in the house and Ron and I watched out the window as the girls finally figured out one could ride and the other could PUSH. Grandma had not said they could not push the wagon, only that they could not pull it. They traded places all the way home with one riding and the other pushing and half the time the two carrying the wagon over the roughest spots in the field.

These girls proved once more, where there is a will there is a way.

photograph found on google images

Friday, August 20, 2010

SAFE HARBOR


There was a tree next to our house that I was able to climb easily. It was my safe harbor as a child. It was my place to do my thinking and day-dreaming without interruption or family demands. I think of that tree often when our youngest granddaughter visits and takes her place as high in our cherry tree as she can climb. She would spend all day there if we let her. It makes me smile to imagine all the creative thoughts she is having (or schemes she is plotting).

My home now has many places that offer refuge from outside interruptions. Blogging offers a source of escape. My art is easily distracting from day-to-day issues. Curling up in a corner of my sofa with snacks and a glass of wine to watch a Netflix movie or read a book or listen to a book tape is rejuvenating. Closing up the chickens and goats in the evening gives me sacred moments to gaze at the moon and stars and know the promise of new strength for the next day.

I cannot speak for Ron and where he finds sanctuary but when I see him on a tractor spending hours mowing, digging and sculpting our property, I believe he finds solace in the beautification process.

Perhaps I must admit that in these retirement years I seem to spend more time in safe harbor than I do on the high seas of chores, traumatic news, world politics, fair and unfair. Who wants to step out into all of that if they don't have to?

Do you have need in your life for sanctuary and where do you find it?

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Oh, I keep forgetting to tell you this story. Did you know that Ron gave me a gift of George Washington's original hatchet that he used to chop down the cherry tree? Ron swears it is the original hatchet and that he only had to replace the head twice and the handle three times.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

BLOG POSTS ARE MINI PEP RALLIES

Remember the enthusiasm generated in school pep rallies? Did (or do) you experience staff meetings at work that basically were pep rallies? Have you ever entered a WalMart in the morning when they are having their daily pep rally?

Corny as pep rallies are after the fact, in the moment you cannot help but get caught up and feel a bit of the energy they generate.

I try to say my blog posts are for me, for the purpose of journaling to remember the events of my life. The comments are very nice but getting comments is not the point to my blogging -- or are they?

If I post something that you relate to, you comment with a story of your own or you simply applaud what I have said. By the end of a day or two I'm able to review my post and read your great comments and feel exhilarated by your support. The comments turn my post into a mini pep rally and I begin compiling the next post to see if I can create a swell in the audience. I love reading your blogs and commenting there for the same reason. The comments you receive are equally energizing and it is a joy to share that. We can walk away feeling uplifted.

Does this make sense? Can you think of your own blog as a mini pep rally?

Give me a G - give me an R - give me an A - give me an N - give me an N - give me a Y...

What's it spell?

Sunday, August 15, 2010

WE OUGHT-TA HAVE SOME EGGS TODAY

Instead of a furnace blast upon opening the door today, we actually felt a cool breeze at 73 degrees and a light rain had fallen to cause a sweet Fall-like aroma. The chickens did not linger in the hen house when I opened their door. They entered the outdoors with squawking, flapping and seemingly joyful exiting. Perhaps they will be able to get back to the business of laying eggs. Over the past several weeks we have been doing well to get two eggs a day.

The goats all were taking this cool down in stride except for Tandy Kid who has lived every day of his life in extremely hot temperatures and must wonder what this day is about. He was really enjoying a good romp in the goat pen.

How can we go from 105 actual temp and heat index of 111 one day and be this cool the next? We were beginning to think this day would never come. It was a real thrill to throw open the curtains and watch the wildlife starting to move around too. With all the curtains closed throughout the house, it has lent to the depression of the heat. Today we are supposed to reach 96 and for some that might seem like a warm day but for us it will be springtime.

Hope I am not counting my chickens before they hatch or jinxing us some way for acting like the heat wave is over because I know, having lived most of my life in Oklahoma, we could easily be back in the triple digits by morning. Just know I'm going to enjoy this day as much as possible and I'm hoping the rest of my heat laden friends are getting a break as well.

CLICK TO READ THIS HILARIOUS BACON POST

Saturday, August 14, 2010

WILL WE EVER BE FINISHED


Remember the doodle art from JOEY'S ART COMPETITION? I had tried to get my grandson Michael to enter the competition. He said he had several ideas but nothing was finished. The fun contest is over and the winner was deservedly Talon, but I have to share these "unfinished" pieces of Michael's. This seems to be a problem for artists to find a stopping place. Anyway I am sharing these because it is necessary for me to brag. It is absolutely something I must do. Wouldn't Michael have had some nice entries for the contest?



If Joey does this again, I will try harder to get Michael in the competition.

click on each picture to enlarge

Thursday, August 05, 2010

IDENTIFY THE ELDERLY

RAQUEL WELCH IS OVER 70


Lately our medical professionals have been explaining our various ailments as "common to the elderly". Yikes!

My siblings are both older than I and they are the same brats who have tortured me for 64 years with that same ornery glint in their eyes and I don't see "elderly" in them at all.


I called a good friend to wish her happy birthday this week and realized she is turning 72 and some people might call her elderly. To me she is the same young, vital woman I have always known. She is classy and active as is her spouse. No way are they elderly.


There was a woman at the grocery store yesterday who was busy spreading cheer and moving her shopping cart through the aisles like a race car driver. At one point she stopped to talk to a friend and I heard her mention that she was 81.

Webster defines elderly as: 1 a: rather old; especially : being past middle age.

What is "middle age" today?

If a person age 60 or older is still in the workplace, would you call them elderly? Does white hair mean the person or persons are elderly? How would you identify or define a person as elderly? Do you think the person you see in your mirror is aging or simply the reflection of the same person you have always seen in your mirror?

Monday, August 02, 2010

HOW DOES SLIM GET IN THIS HOUSE?


1.) Am I being moved out of the big house into this little house?
2.) Unless they put up curtains, how will I have any privacy?
3.) Why is the door on the roof?

This lovely little greenhouse was in front of a local flea market. My friend Teresa wanted it and I wanted it. I was not sure how we would get it home or how much it cost so I bowed out. Teresa called her spouse and they could not agree on the purchase even though she had discovered it was only $20. I rushed to the flea market and paid for the greenhouse and it would wait for us outside until Ron and I could come back with the truck to get it.

The flea market was closed but our purchase was marked paid. We were attempting to load the heavy glass greenhouse into the truck and we both lacked the strength to lift it high enough to reach the tailgate. A local woman we had never met came to our rescue and added just the amount of strength we needed to get the house in the truck. I guess we look honest because for all she knew, we were stealing the dang thing. The heat index was 106 yet she stopped to help. Just proves the kindness of strangers once again and the beauty of small town living.

That was Friday evening. Another adventure followed on Saturday evening. We let Tandy Kid out with the big goats to graze. I saw them all return to the pen and went out to lock the gate when I realized TK was missing. Ron and I searched on foot and in the van for over two hours looking for our baby boy goat. It was a sad, sad day and we were reconciled to another loss, probably the hardest to take of all. Then I decided to take one more look around the pen and found the little rascal sound asleep under a tractor. I pulled him out and hugged him with such relief while he just screamed at me for waking him:)

The weekend adventures were not over yet. Sunday evening I had just finished watching a Netflix movie and our power went out. The alarm on Ron's oxygen started blaring which awakened him from his afternoon snooze. I called the power company and left our information on their answering machine but could not learn what had happened. It only took about ten minutes for the heat to become too extreme in the house so we got in the van and drove around with the air conditioning for quite a while. Finally we went into town and luckily they had power so we were able to have dinner in a very crowded local restaurant. After 2 1/2 hours we learned the power was back on and we headed home.

If the family doesn't visit our weekends are usually very quiet. This weekend was certainly a change from the norm.