Frankie and Slim

Frankie and Slim
Happy New Year

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

IT REALLY HAPPENED

Question Of The Week



What is a classic family story in your life?


For instance:  Mother had to go out of town which never happened and dad was left to baby sit me and my two siblings (approximately ages  7, 9 and 12).  We had not lived in this town long and our dad was the new local Methodist preacher. We played outside and dad assumed all would be easy.

We drug home a giant refrigerator carton from the back of the appliance store in the alley.  It would be our adventure spot for the day.  We played and played and occasionally our dad would remember to look up from his sermon preparation to see what all the noise was about and tell us to quiet down.

It was not long before my sister decided to dress up as a fortune teller and set up her shop in the box.  It was also not long before she was screaming in pain from a rusty nail stuck in her ear.  Dad rushed her to the doctor where she was given a tetanus shot and other treatment and sent home to resume playing in the box.  This was the same day she coated a towel with ketchup and held a knife against her chest and fell out the back door, scaring the daylights out of all of us.

Dad again told us to quiet down while we continued to rum amok.  He didn't have a clue that we had ended up with the neighbor kids joining us to play in the giant box.  We decided to play cowboys which included a sheriff (my brother) who used the box for the jail.  The youngest neighbor boy was locked up and we sat on the box to prevent his escape.  We should have locked up the older brother too because he ran home screaming to mama while we (like idiots) kept sitting on the box.

The boy's mother arrived and Dad came outside.The memory remains of "The face off" of  Mrs. Neighbor, hands on hips, telling our mild-mannered father that the town was a lot better place before we moved there!

I don't remember dad every babysitting again:)

YOUR TURN

Friday, May 25, 2012

GUESS WHO'S COMING TO BREAKFAST

David has brought her three little much bigger kittens to the breakfast table.  Guess she is getting them ready for Memorial weekend.  They are bigger but not quite as big as they look in the picture.  


Yesterday Mr. Gibson hen became trapped in some wire and her seven chicks went running amok.  They are still too small for Slim to round up and escaped into small openings.  I thought Mama Gibson would go looking for them as soon as released from the trap but this is what she did.  She went in the hen house and stood beside their birth nest box.  She paced back and forth and made a repeat clucking noise (in a special tone of voice).  Slim and I came in the house and watched out the window.  I was about to give up in sorrow when suddenly the chicks appeared around the corner of the barn.  By nightfall all seven were safely tucked in the nest with mom.  The moral of the story is "Listen to mother!"


Hope everyone has a safe and happy Memorial Weekend.  We are expecting lots of kids and grandkids. Take some time to reflect on the meaning of Memorial Day and the memories we respect.


Wednesday, May 23, 2012

TUNING YOUR TONE

Does it ever seem that you are getting a lot of negative feedback on something you say? If you respond with astonishment over a surprising angry response to a seemingly innocent comment you are told "Well it was your tone".


Smoking for years did not helped my voice.  Once a speech major and award winning orator, I am no longer able to enunciate as was once possible and my voice range is limited. More often than not the content of message is misconstrued and  I am admonished for my tone of voice.


Of course, once in a while, I am being very sarcastic:)

Monday, May 21, 2012

Saturday, May 19, 2012

NO IMAGE THANK GOD

Imagine this is a little feathered baby chick wing.
I did not have my camera and there certainly wasn't time to get one to capture this moment.  Thankfully, when I went to google images to search for a similar picture of the event I though to myself, "How could there be a photo of such a happening?  The first impulse of anyone would be to save the chick before taking a picture."  And I was right.  There were no photos on google of a "drowning chick".


We had just returned from Tulsa and my first stop was to check on Mama Gibson's seven chicks.  Oops, I only counted six.  I heard one peeping frantically away from the others and was led to this struggling infant in the large water can paddling for it's life.  Quickly I grabbed the chick out of the water and began to dry it and cuddle it, carrying the babe to its mama.  Mr. Gibson attacked me with a vengeance.  She had no idea I was saving her child. 


Mr. Gibson gathered her active chicks under her in a corner of the hen house and I carefully place this soggy birdie near them.  It was able to hobble over to mom and crawl under the safety of her wings.  Checking back in about an hour found mama and seven scampering around together again as if nothing had happened and the rescued chick was as fluffy and normal appearing as the rest.  Needless to say this is the first of the new chicks to be named.  Can you guess?  The new name is LUCKY!

Friday, May 18, 2012

THREE TO GO

Five down UP...three to go. Last night Dillon graduated from Broken Arrow, OK High School.  He is our fifth grandchild to graduate from high school.  He will be attending OU (The University of Oklahoma) in the fall.  We were not at his graduation  but should have said that we were, because in that crowd, who knew?  We were certainly there in spirit.  We are such proud grandparents.


CONGRATULATIONS DILLON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
photo by Alex Price

Thursday, May 17, 2012

THE CODE IS BROKEN

Rural auctions for equipment and supplies as well as entire farms have been around forever,

 Auctions have been his passion for years.  Attending auctions, bidding at auctions, buying things just to keep someone else from getting it, selling at auctions.  Because of his health problems, our attendance and participation in local auctions has been greatly reduced.  


My passion was eBay auctions.  I sold our junk commodities in online auctions and we did very well.  Since he is not buying as much these days, I am not selling anything anymore.  But that has not kept me from buying on eBay.


Ron occasionally will find something on eBay and ask me to buy it for him.  He did not know how to make a purchase on eBay so it is always up to me to complete the transaction which has kept his number of purchases relatively low.  Perhaps it is out of boredom or perhaps it is his sudden understanding that eBay is the way to attend an auction sitting down, he has suddenly broken the buying code and is now quite comfortable making his own purchases. Sellers will love him because he isn't one to let an item go for nothing.  He will either win the bid or at least force another buyer to pay a fair price.


Let the fun begin.  All I can say is "Yikes!"

Monday, May 14, 2012

REGARDLESS OF RELIGION

Question Of The Week




What would you describe as the most profound spiritual moment of your life?

Saturday, May 12, 2012

HOPEFULLY SOME JILLS

Mr. Gibson is a new mom today.  Jack Bauer is a new dad:)  The Araucauna eggs received from the neighbors, fertilized by Jack Bauer and adopted by Mr. Gibson have hatched. We wouldn't mind a new rooster Jack in the batch but hopefully most of the chicks are girls.  Thankfully I was able to briefly look under Mom Gibson and it appears all eight eggs have hatched.  Meanwhile I was able to snap this one photo before mama went totally ballistic.  Rooster Chicklet and Rooster Bonnie are announcing to the neighborhood about the new arrivals and hopefully Rooster Jack Bauer will get the message

Looks like there are six.  I managed to sneak these while mom was off the nest,  Maybe the other two eggs will hatch,
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY MR. GIBSON!!!


Rooster Bonnie helps spread the word.

Chicklet says, "Hey Jack, can you hear me?  You're a new dad.  Looks like six chicks."

Friday, May 11, 2012

WHUT ES BRAK-FUST?

David showed up for breakfast as usual this morning.  For a bit of a twist, she brought her children.  This was their first outing to the table (straw bale) and they could not have been less interested.  Nancy stood watch while her unnamed siblings (Who? and Who?) wrestled. They paid no attention to the dish set before their mother of strange crunchy tidbits.  "Gib us duh milk!"
"Cut it out you guys, we've got company!"
Who? Who? and Nancy
Nancy

Thursday, May 10, 2012

IMPORTANCE OF SIBLINGS

Here are my two fine adult children who managed to raise each other (without killing each other) while I earned our living.

Son, proud single father of three, daughter loving wife and proud mom of two.

Wednesday, May 09, 2012

IT'S HAPPENING MORE LATELY

We drove to Tulsa  yesterday to renew my Military ID.  It took two and a half hours.  When we finally got the new ID they handed me one with a picture on it of some fat old lady.  I swear this person must be following me around because she is appearing more and more in my photos.

Monday, May 07, 2012

FAMILY HERITAGE

Question Of The Week

What is 
your ethnic 
background?  



(Where is your mom's family from/your dad's family from?  If you don't know for sure, what would be your best guess or what would  you like to imagine?)

Sunday, May 06, 2012

WHO LET THE DOG IN...WHO, WHO?

Slim wanted out in the middle of the night.  I got up and let her out. When I got up at 4:00 am she was barking to come in. I opened the door and called to her, but she did not come in.  The computer awaited me and I began my morning schedule of  blogging, reading blogs. commenting, playing words with friends, etc.  Around 6:00 am Slim came bounding into the living room.  Ron must be up now I thought.  He did not come into the kitchen so I went to check on him.  He was sleeping soundly.  Well, Slim must have pushed open the den door and let herself in.  Nope, the den door was locked, deadbolt and all.  When Ron did get up, I asked him if he got up and let Slim in.  He swears he did not.  Slim must have her own key now.

Or maybe it was the cosmic effects of the moon...


Saturday, May 05, 2012

ALWAYS A WINNER


Our granddaughter Hope participated in Field Day at her school.  She worked hard preparing for the various events.  Exciting results for Hope in winning three Fourth Place ribbons and two Second Place ribbons. 
On your mark...
Get set...
Go Hope...Go!!!!
Look at that form, that grace, that style!!!!!

Friday, May 04, 2012

WHO IS AT FAULT?


We have multiple doctors:  PCP (Primary Care Physician); Cardiologist; Pulmonary Specialist; Urologist; Dermatologist; Cancer Care Physician; Gynecologist; Orthopedic Pain Specialist.  The majority of these offices have very prompt, courteous and efficient methods of dealing with our phone calls.  One, our PCP, has a terrible communication system.

Usually we get one of three receptionists who will attempt to answer our concern (though they are not RNs or LPNs or medical aides)  and then give us a long dissertation on how the insurance system works (or doesn't work) and then tells us the nurse will get back with us.  The nurse does not get back with us.  Occasionally the receptionist will put us on hold and we listen to Muzak until we can't stand it any longer and hang up.  This has to happen several times before we actually get the nurse who then repeats the dissertation on how the insurance system works that we already got from the receptionist.  Our question has nothing to do with the insurance system.  We can never get to the doctor between visits unless we have an emergency and then we are told to call 911.

We love our PCP but she has had five different nurses in the nine years we have been seeing her.  The one we liked was with her five years and the other four have been with her the next four years. We do not want to complain because we are not sure just who is to blame.  Yes we are not her only patients, but as far as we are concerned we ARE her only patients.  Know what I mean?

Is the staff at fault, is the doctor at fault or is the management company for this group of physicians at fault?  We do not want to change doctors but it could be our best alternative.  Then the question of "will we be any better off?" would remain.

Any suggestions?

Wednesday, May 02, 2012

HE AIN'T HEAVY...

It is a wonderful thing that Ashenhurst has a twin brother.  Not only did Ashenhurst's mother reject him, the rest of the herd rejects him also.  He would be left to wander alone and unnoticed if it were not for Ashley-Asher, his twin brother.  If Ashenhurst strays too far from the group Ashley-Asher will begin to call for him and seek him out.  When Ashenhurst was nursing on the bottle, Ashley-Asher would stand beside him and often he would suck on Ashenhurst's ear as if to lend him some moral support.  Ashenhurst still runs to me the minute I step out the door even though the bottle days are over.  Ashley-Asher runs toward me too, but only to stand by and make sure his brother is okay.
Ashenhurst is still much smaller than Ashley-Asher
Ashenhurst (on the right) has a black eye.  He's got a tough road but at least he's got his brother.