Uh, Embankment!

Awwww teenage love!

 

This story comes from my teen-hood, if you will.  I had a boyfriend, we had been dating awhile.  But then we broke up.  Things happen.  It was supposed to be a time out.  I gave him back his senior ring and he hung it on his rear view mirror and said, "it will stay right here until you come back to me."

 

Well sometime later on I saw him at a rodeo.  We stopped to speak for a minute.  I was nervously fidgeting with a small rock in my hands.  While we were speaking, I noticed he had his senior ring on his finger.  I had heard prior to this meeting of the possibility of him seeing an old girlfriend.  So when I saw the ring on his finger instead of his rear view mirror, I reacted by kind of throwing the little rock at his head.  I said something appropriate like, "it will stay right here until you come back to me?"

 

I was mad.  So I walked off and while still in his sight, I walked by a cowboy I knew, said something to him and we walked away together.  We left the rodeo together.  My intent was to "back at ya babe" my time out boyfriend.  I came back later to find my girlfriend that came to the rodeo with me.  She and I left and went to my house.

 

So here is the good part.  I lived on a road that ended a couple of houses down from mine.  Perpendicular to my road was Cemetery Road.  So when you came to the end of my road, you should either turn right or left or you will run into an embankment bordering the cemetery.

 

After arriving at my home with my friend, we were near the door when we heard screeching of tires and revving of a motor.  It was a car flying down my road.  It was time out boyfriend.  He had his brother in the car with him and he was speeding and spinning tires past my house.  This, I assumed, was the "I saw you leave with him and I am mad" show.

 

We stood and watched as he sped past my house and yeah, you got it, he was less than a hundred yards from the end of my road.  He was looking in my direction.  There was little time for me to think, but somewhere in my brain, the thought flew by - Oh my gosh, he is not slowing down.  In less than a few seconds we heard the screeching of tires, slamming of breaks and then a small, thud kind of boomish, not quite crash sound.  Uh, embankment!

 

(I am so laughing out loud right now.)  Well before we could get out to the road to look down it and see what happened, he had quietly driven away.  So basically, his mind could not contain the anger and the memory of the end of my road at the same time.

 

Sorry, I had to stop writing to laugh some more.  The best re-telling of this story comes from his brother describing his trip around the inside of that car and I believe ending up in the back seat, somehow.  No one wore seat belts back then.

 

Needless to say, my friend and I had much fun into the night with this one.  I knew they were alright, so I played the scenario over and over in my head.  He was soooooo jealous and I liked it!  Timeout lasted longer after this night. 

 

Morals of this story: 

1. Uh, embankment.
2. Don't go out with old yucky girlfriend during time out.
3. Anger really does blind you!
4. If you say it is going to stay on the rear view mirror, leave it on the rear view mirror!

 

Final Score NFC Wins! 55-41

OK Moving on....
*yawn* bedtime!

(See the guy run out on the field and get carted away by the Hawaii police?)

42-21 Watch Out NFC!

I had a friend out of town weekend, I am so tired I don't know if I am going to make the end of this game!

I see Cowboys but not enough and I want to see more!

Trying to get my Boys fix!  I know, I know, next year!

AFC Scores 42-7 NFC

OK they are on the board just before half, I am catching up!

It's A Runaway! 42-0 NFC

I cannot believe how many interceptions in this game and scores following every one of them!



Pro Bowl - 0 - 14 Go NFC!

Touchdown!   I Am Trying...  Any chance to see the Boys playing!  But it is weird, kind of.  My first time watching pro bowl or paying attention anyway.  5 Cowboys, McBriar - great kick.  But anytime not passed to Witten, I am like HELLO Vick!

So weird experience, but I am still watching!

NFC intercepted!  Ratliff batted it! Whup Whup!

Interception again!

Cedar, Grrrrr!

I have seen the enemy, his name is Cedar! If I owned him I would cut him down. He doesn't usually have snow on his head but he wreaks havoc with my sinus'! Sneezing, watery, itchy eyes and the basic need to take medicine and use all the tissues in my house. I know I am not alone!

OH The Football Humanity...!

I have been in black mourning the Boys not being in the playoffs.  I have also adopted the Steelers in the playoffs in the absence of the Boys...  But when I saw the news tonight and they showed them painting the Steelers, our all time rival!, on the Cowboys football field with Packers on the other end, it was quite the mood changer!

Hold on, having a moment here...

Ok, I think I'm ok now.  What a wake up call!  If it affects me this way, the Cowboys are probably really feeling the loss!  I hope so!  WAKE UP BOYS!  We will see next year.

In all the hub bub going on in my town and in Arlington and Dallas, the hype, the excitement, the changing of our towns getting ready, it kind of masks for just a few minutes, the loss of us not being in this superbowl game.  Oh the pain of it all... (pulling the black veil back down over my face).

Summertime... And the living is easy! (just prepping for the sun!)

OK spring comes first!

Pic of one of my amazing g-kids!  She's the pitcher!  Am I blessed or what, had my g-son in last blog holding Trooper Dooper.

Warming up some here in Texas, finally got out of those winter temps for now!  Sunshine is good!  Love Texas weather, we oooh and awwww at our brief winter drop, maybe some snow days, maybe some ice days, but we all start crying for the sun really, really fast!  We need to get out and enjoy the outside, lawn chairs, grills, sunglasses, soccer, baseball games, and yes even shorts!  We know it will hit again, but we are like horses at the gates ready for sunshine!

Right now we have the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo going on.  It is a yearly event that last for weeks.  I remember going every year way back when I was in high school.  Amazing memories!  This by itself brings in huge crowds from all over the USA.  But add onto that the Superbowl!  My town is going to be busting at the seams.  What excitement!

My work is interfering with my personal life Big Time!  :)

Been working early, been working late.  Creative juices are blocked!  So a brief update...
I was sick now I am not, Whoo hoo!  Thought I was going to be sick forever!
New project at work, burning the midnight and weekend oil.

Gotta a big friend get together this weekend, so running away from all worries and cares!
Girls coming in from all over to converge on one home, it is our January Christmas weekend!
Trooper got a few more days with his family, good thing, they are hospicing him at home for now.
Kids and grandkids are amazing!

Have a beautiful day people!  Put on those sunglasses and pretend it is Summertime!

We Love You Trooper!

Sad, sad day.  My Godpuppy, my sister's little long hair dachshund has had a stroke and is in heart failure.  He is not expected to make it.

This little puppy has been in the family a long time and there never was a sweeter little dog!  My heart is crying.  For Troop and for my sister and her family.

Just wanted you to know.

Whole New OMG level!

Oh My Gosh!  My grandson is on facebook!  Wow talk about making you feel old!  He is a teenager now so don't know why I am surprised!

Brings about all kinds of thought processes going on in my head!  RE-Calcuate! 

Steelers And Packs coming to Texas!

It was a toss up all around Sunday, but the Steelers and Packs won!  They were both playing like they wanted it this year. 
Just biding my time til the Boys are back!  My tv is packed with superbowl preps here in TX, so the attention is on us even though we didn't make it this year!  I am being nice here can you tell?  Because the Boys didn't pull it out and get it on and make it this year!!!
Sigh.  Next year.

Da Bears gave da ball to da cheese!

Packers Win 24-14!

Unfortunately had to work again today!  But had the tube on in the background.  Wasn't sure who would win right down to under 2 min warning!

So now Packers are coming to visit me!  Watch out Matthews!  Even though there was no reason to hate on him today...  Rock on Raji - the freezer!  Shields saved the day!

ON TO PITTSBURGH!  15 degrees!  Lots of shivering going on there and I am not talking fear!

Jets and Steelers both positive they are going to win this game!  Good match up!

Saturday No Fun Today!

There are no playoff games today and I have to work!
It is sad to me that there are only 2 NFL games this weekend, it is almost over for this postseason :(

Whatever will I do?  Get out more?  YES!

So I am going for the Steelers and the Packers (arghhh) to win this weekend and show up in my neighborhood for the Superbowl!  See you tomorrow!

Fight And Flight!

We have all heard about that involuntary fight or flight thing going on in our brain, well this story is about a time when it was a mixture of both for me. Fight and Flight.

Fourth of July, a yearly family reunion if you will. It didn't start out that way, it just kept happening the same time every year.

Over the years and many 4th of July's and plenty of great stories later, we were at a campground called Rock-a-way Park on Inks Lake. This was our favorite and we went there many times before and after this story's year.

It was a cool little park with campsites and docks lining the lake shore. The little park had a game room, air hockey was the big draw for me. It also had its own little store and of course public restrooms and showers.

Our campsites were settled on the shore just a little over a stone's throw from under the lake bridge, the old kind that has the arches going over it. This was very memorable because when cars went over it, they made a melodious bu-bump, bu-bump, bu-bump sound in the distance as they traveled all the way across. It was a main highway so this was pretty constant and at night it would lull you to sleep, or drive you crazy depending on your personality. This family gathering had many distinct personalities, but mostly hilarity was the theme. There was a lot of card playing, 42, swimming, laying out, skiing and eating.

Kids of all ages we had and my youngest was a toddler. I want to say 2 years old. My kids all learned how to swim early, he was on his way but not quite there yet. So he was still in his learner life jacket when in the lake. There were always adults in with them when they swam and played. There was a cement wall at the edge, so they had a good area of shallow water to play in. The lake and dock were just about 6 feet from the actual campsite and it was quite the perfect spot.

The kids swam a lot, but at the time of my story, they had been ordered out of the water for non-swim time, they were now out of their swimwear and life vests. I was on the dock which was about 6x6, tidying up a bit. Picking up the towels, soda cans and sorting flip flops. The kiddos (about 6 of them) had come to the edge of the lake right beside the dock and begged me to let them go in again. But I was adamant, not right now, later and I shoo'd them all away from the lake edge. The adults were just about 6 feet away mingled at the covered area, talking, eating, etc.

I turned back to my dock duties and what seemed like only a few minutes later, I looked up and out at the water (I believe the Lord directed me to do so) and I saw a child out in the water. Immediately I could tell it was my son. He was about 10 feet from the shore and about 6 feet out from the far corner of the dock. Not to scare too badly, he was not laying in the water, he was upright, floating, head barely above the water, looking straight at me. No life jacket.

Stop the tape. I have no idea what occurred in his little life to get out that far without going under. How did he get in the water and that far out that fast without a sound? I was right there. Only God knows.

Start the tape. He was looking straight at me. His little cheeks were puffed out holding his breath. The water was at his nose level, then at his eyes then back to his nose. But he never blinked, he just stared straight at me. I saw that and I was past freaked out inside, but literally without a thought or split second delay I took off running towards the end of the dock. I had to get my hands on that child, this was a lake not a clear pool. If he went under I wouldn't be able to see him. I ran out of my shoes. I knew somewhere in my head that I needed someone to know what was happening so as I got to the edge of the dock in a full run and jumped through the air, I yelled for help or at least I think I yelled, I may have screamed or whispered, I couldn't hear myself. I never took my eyes off his eyes.

I landed right in front of him, I knew I was going to go under feet first and as I did, I grabbed him and pushed him up as I went under. I never touched the bottom. When I came up, I had him held as high out of the water as I could. I immediately started kick swimming towards the camp. (no hands, I could not let go of my son, I kept him as high as I could.) He was still staring at me and still holding his breath, he would not let the air out of those little puffed cheeks.

My feet finally touched bottom and I was able to start walking and working on him while I was still in chest high water. I blew air into his face, I turned him over and well, for lack of a better way to say it, I hit him on the upper back with my flat hand, trying to force him to breath, turned him back over and he finally let all his air out and breathed back in. All this while I'm trying to make it back to shore with him. After he finally breathed, somebody from the camp took him from me. He was breathing and alive. At this point I am not sure what I was.

It amazes me to this day, he never took water into his lungs, he never let go of that last breath he took before he started floating out. It broke my heart to think of what he went through getting out there and begging me in his little mind to look up at him. To me it was no less than a pure miracle.

When I was out of the water, I was pushing shock. I walked over to him, now wrapped in Granny's arms, tightly in a blanket getting all warmed up and comforted, looked him over and kissed him. I don't remember everything but I think that Grandpa touched me or looked at me, assured me somehow that he's ok, he's going to be just fine. He may have said it, he may have just looked at me and I knew it. Everybody was around, but I don't remember much. I think I smiled a weak smile, but probably not and walked to my camper.

I mindlessly got some dry clothes and walked to the camp restroom. I got inside, set my clothes on the counter and then proceeded to break down by myself. I cried so hard, I thought someone was going to run in to find out what was going on in there. Did Deb come to me, I think so, maybe or Kathy? I can't remember, I obviously put on the dry clothes and returned to the campsite. My son was fine. That night I was a mixture of nervous wreck and zombie.

The next day we swam and played again. Life goes on. But I have never stopped thanking God for saving my son and my heart that day. Now he is a grown man and reading this, I love you son.

No harm done, he is an adventurer, he bungees, jumps out of airplanes, climbs and hikes and camps on the ocean beaches. He has a motorcycle and is saving for a sailboat. No harm done.

(do I have to say it Shelby, movie line alert)

Wipeout!

Now generally, I am not a total Klutz!  But I do have my moments.

Once upon a time I got a new job, the company I work for now. 

I had my interview and got the job and reported for my first day at work.  It was the day where you sit through all of the new person stuff with the other new employees that were just hired.

During this time we had a break.  Everyone dispersed out and I decided to take a walk around the building to see the sites.  I was walking on one of those huge sidewalks made of embedded rocks and gravel, made all pretty for the eye.  It was right up against the building so I was safe enough.

As I was walking, there was approaching, a small drop down in this sidewalk.  I was not knowledgeable of this drop down, I was looking elsewhere.  Now mind you it was not a step down that would have been more noticeable, but rather a 2 inch slope down.  Completely invisible.

You would think I am just walking, so any stumble would not result in a major accident, but NOOOO.  I wiped out completely!

Imagine tumbling down a steep embankment at about 20 miles an hour.  That was me.  When I finally came to a stop, in the most compromising position, I was at the least, perplexed at what had attacked me.

Let us stop for a moment and set the picture.  I was dressed up.  Dress (not long enough to help with modesty of any kind), black hose, high heals, nice handbag and looking all new for my new company.

Ok, so I finally came to a stop, immediately without thinking I turned myself over to a sitting position, all I could muster at the moment.  I was reeling with pain and wondering what the heck happened and how I was going to get up gracefully.  I looked around.  No persons in my sight.  But.... and this is a big but.... behind me was the building and this building was nothing but glass, the mirrored kind that you cannot see in, but everyone can see out!  Great!  I had no idea what kind of audience had just enjoyed this moment of whatever!

So, as I looked around, my purse was about 6 feet away.  My pretty black hose were torn to shreds and I am not kidding, shreds.  The largest area of impact was obviously one of my knees.  It was bleeding profusely, hose above the knee, hose below the knee, but no hose around the knee.  Torn to shreds.  Surprisingly, the injury was much worse than I would have expected.

I checked myself out, still sitting on the sidewalk, I had no broken bones that I could tell but very many abrasions, hands, arms, etc and of course a gaping gash in my knee.  So I proceeded to try to gracefully get up.  Not successful in the gracefully part, but finally got to my feet.  Blood running down my leg from my injured knee.  I carefully walked over to pick up my purse.  The bending over of this action, made me feel a little loopy.

I carefully limped back around the building and in the front were two girls that had started to work with me today.  I walked up, they were deep in conversation, and just stood there.  One of the girls looked at me and had this weird look on her face, she said, oh my gosh you are white as a sheet!!!  I was beginning to fade away, they immediately took over and walked me into the building lobby and sat me in a chair.  By the way, still bleeding.

In a nutshell, I had to be driven to the emergency room by an HR person.  I had gravel embedded in my knee and had to have stitches.  The HR person then had to take me to my home, I couldn't drive and had to leave my car at the new work.  I could not walk the next day, so I could not attend my second day at work!!!!  First day at work and I was on medical leave!!!!

What a first impression that was!!!  I totally ROCK!!!

Down Into The Cavern

One of my favorite places is New Mexico.  I have driven through New Mexico many, many times.  And all around it a few times.

More than one of my many trips there was Carlsbad Caverns.  It is a wonder to behold that is for sure.  The first time I visited there, and we were driving towards the caverns, we weren't seeing anything.  We were following the signs, but it looked barren.  Like much of New Mexico, just a lot of land.  Mostly flat or rolling through brushy areas of nothing in between the places I love to go.

So it was kind of weird, you are near a place of wonder to behold and yet you see nothing.  It is all UNDERGROUND!  The first time I went, we used the entrance where we walked down and down and down, this is one way in, walking all the way, 79 stories, which was an amazing sight to see.  I seriously had no idea what to expect and it was thrilling.

They had it all  set up to where you, the non-spelunker, could walk down and around.  I was amazed at what I seeing.  It was beautiful, they had lights set up to illuminate the things you would normally miss because of the darkness.  At one point in the tour they turn out the lights to show you the absolute darkness.  Weird, this is a point where you really realize what the discoverers of this awe filled place had felt.

Special places and amazing huge structures with special names.  The bodies of water that were seriously deep, but such clear water that you couldn't tell how deep just by gazing into it.  And God made structures everywhere built by dripping water and sediment.  Products of more time and earth happenings than we can even imagine.  The facts of it all, of course, amazed me.

The really awe inspiring thoughts to me, came from a description of these caverns that they were a result of very traumatic things happening below the surface long, long ago in this now serene and beautiful place.  Water rushing violently to places unknown.  Rocks and gigantic pieces of earth falling, shifting and crevicing into depths still unknown to this day.  What an activity you could not witness with your own eyes and live through.

And the history we were told of how it was discovered, just, well, amazed me.  I kept trying to imagine, coming way down into the ground without all the paths and lights and safety nets.  Squeezing through openings almost too small for a person and then without warning dropping off into depths they could not see.  That part was more than I could imagine, scary.

It is definitely something to behold that is for sure.  Everyone should see it and definitely every one's children need to see it.  After a certain age, in my opinion.  There are over 300 known caverns under the New Mexico state, only 100 + are in the Carlsbad National Park.  You know that is a lot of holes underground, you wonder how stable it all is???

Just so you know, when you get to the bottom, you will be in an 8+ acre great room, a huge room that is so beautiful.  Its ceiling in some places is 20 stories high.  It is definitely awe inspiring.  At this level you will also be near the elevator which is how you go back up.  This is where it really got to me, I am more than 700 feet under the surface of the ground.  Wait, wait, let's say it differently, there is more than 700 feet of land (and holes) between me and the surface!  Gulp, realizing that and waiting to get on that elevator made me more nervous than walking down into the caverns.  And then!  Ouch, so many people got on it with me... I .... can't .... breath..... Good thing it was fast going up!!!  Seeing the sky again was a good thing.

bi's Book Blip:  OK, A good book to mention here is Nevada Barr's "Blind Descent".  Fiction. This author writes about murder mysteries in many of the different national park's in the US.  She used to be a park ranger in real life.  This book is about a cavern in the Carlsbad National Park that is not been fully spelunked yet or ready for the public.  It is a real existing cavern that is thought to be over 300 miles long.  This book, good grief, just thinking about it makes me shiver.  This book is an excellent description of the cavern explorers that go down into caves before they are all made safe and lit up for visitors.  The discovery of all the caverns, rooms and passages (in the dark) and mapping it.  Squeezing into crevices, making their way across or around huge chasms, not knowing what to expect or where they are going.  It is definitely a nail biter in itself and on top of all that, there is a murderer down there.  This is a book you won't forget. (there was another book published by a different author, I believe this past year of the same name, I haven't read it - yet.)



Scarlett Moody

Right now I am Scarlett, standing in the door, crying, looking into the fog for answers... "What ever will I do?"
In a little bit I will be sitting on the staircase saying, "Afta all tomorrow is anutha day!"
Tomorrow I will go to Tara.

Grab A Cream Puff And Run Aimlessly!

 

One of those ranches that we lived on when I was a child, was in Clovis, CA.  This is the same place where across the road from our home was a peach orchard and a grape vineyard.  The same place where run-away Shaver took me for a ride!

 

On this ranch, was the owner's beautiful huge house facing one road.  And way behind that house and past all the out buildings, swimming pool, arena and  over a couple of fences was our house facing another road.

 

The owner had 5 daughters and one of them was my age, Kelly.  We were about 7 years old and became fast friends.  This was in the day when kids could leave the house in the morning, run around and play all over the grounds and not report in for hours.  And not be worried about.  We had many acres to play on here. 

 

One day we were around Kelly's house somewhere and we saw the bakery truck coming.  Good grief, does anyone remember when a bakery truck went around stopping at houses to see if you needed some baked goods to buy????  Well we had one. 

 

Back to the story, the bakery truck stopped at Kelly's house, her mom went out to pick out various items as usual.  We began to seriously beg for cream puffs, like pleading - begging.... she gave in and the bakery man handed us each a cream puff.

 

We immediately snatched them up and took off running, her mom had not even finished picking out her stuff.  We were in full throttle run, all the while stuffing the cream puffs in our mouths, powdered sugar flying everywhere.  We were hurdling objects, bypassing the pool and playhouses and climbing fences, all on our way to my house.

 

We had barely finished swallowing and wiping sugar off our faces, checking each others face to see if clear.  Then we halted our running and casually (yeah, right) walked up to my mom, who was now awaiting the bakery truck which was now pulling into our drive.  Giggling to each other and trying not to act guilty, we waited with her.

 

The bakery man got out of his truck, half hidden smirky smile on his face looking at us and talking to mom about baked items.  We could barely contain ourselves and immediately started begging for cream puffs.  Mom was busy trying to make her own decisions and after a half hearted attempt to see if we had already had one, which we lied, she gave in.

 

We snatched up those cream puffs and took off for the pasture, laughing and eating cream puffs, with powdered sugar flying everywhere again.  We ran aimlessly in our own hilarity at ourselves.  As if we had gotten away with something.  I am totally sure my mom knew!  Life was a hoot and we rocked it!

 

Don't be so serious!  Grab a cream puff and run aimlessly!  LOL!  Watch where you are going!

 

 

 

James Blunt

I have said before how I love talent.  I love to hear or see someone with a gift that moves you or astounds you.  I heard a piece of Tears and Rain on a television show.  I immediately went online to pull it up and hear the whole song.  The piece that I heard on the show I thought was absolutely beautiful (no pun intended).  I listened to the whole song.  It is not a new song, but either I hadn't heard it before or didn't listen when I heard it.  I don't listen to a lot of radio and I multi-task when I do.

Before I get into the content...  This guy has talent, the voice is gifted.  Such a sound and ability to move this voice where ever he wants to go with it.  It is soothing and dream provoking.  The music is also beautiful, I know he plays multiple instruments and the songs of his that I listened to have amazing music.  There is a flow about it that makes you just want to sit and listen.  This is wow talent. 

Now, the content, the words, disappointed me.  When I heard Tears and Rain in an excerpt, I thought wow, from those 3 words what expectation I had of what this song must be about.  Beautiful voice, music, title, I couldn't wait to hear it.  But the lyrics fell short.  I am no prude and I tried very hard to glean something from his words.  Some meaningful idea or feelings that would fit such a title, and nope, wasn't there.  It didn't stop me from listening more than once.  Some songs I love when I could care less or even not like the words.

Maybe why I have many CDs in different languages that I have no clue what they are saying.  Doesn't matter, the music, voices, tone, melody, whatever is great.  I appreciate the talent, even when I cannot understand the words or wonder why the heck did you write those words into such an amazing song?

We have all heard Beautiful and it lives up to the gift.  Beautiful, the song, is excellent... even though he was bleeping high!  (he said that himself)  It was a good little story which happened to an amazingly talented voice and music. These lyrics I like...  Not astounding, mind you, but fits.

New York City - My First Time

I noticed today, when I threw on my socks and shoes (because it is cold here today) that I had grabbed my socks that say "NYPD" on them.  They bring back a great memory!  I love New York City. I have had the privilege of traveling to different places with my job.  And I am very thankful for some of the places I have gotten to see for myself. In December of 2000, we were working in Delaware.  Our stay was extended a couple of weeks.  My friend and mentor, Nadine and I decided to take the weekend and go to New York City.  I had never been there, she had.  I was so excited, I was beside myself! I talked her into driving into the city instead of taking the train because I wanted the full effect!!!  So against her best wishes, we drove in. The temperature was dropping fast and on one of our pitstops, I realized that I needed some warmer socks and I bought these socks with NYPD on them. I am not sure the length of the drive but before you knew it, I was starting to see the signs!!! First, was the skyline of course, in the distance, excitement was mounting! I was the little kid that was driving the adult driver concerned about traffic, plumb crazy! Then we arrived at the entrance of the Holland Tunnel, severely cool, almost there!  We drove under the river!  We had arrived - NYC traffic!  I wasn't driving of course, I loved every minute of it.  New York City traffic is such a sight and sound to behold!  It is like choreographed chaos!  And the honking and sounds were a crazy wonderful symphony.  I loved it! I was hanging out the window like a puppy dog, pointing "look at that, there is the...."  I know Nadine was a mixture of "shut up, I'm trying to drive" and completely amused by this girl's amazement! This is going to be a multi-parter I can tell.  There is no way to tell it all in one post.  We stayed at an older hotel called the Ambassador or something like that.  It was just a block off Broadway.  We parked the car in a garage for the weekend and checked into the hotel.  My room was so small, the bed took up the whole room.  My suitcase was on the floor in front of the door or the bathroom door, I had to keep moving it back and forth.  I looked outside my upper floor room window and saw the much seen multi level roof tops with the wooden water towers all over the place.  The first thing we did after that was take out on foot to see the city!  A couple of blocks away (it was now dark) was the amazing Times Square!   My favorite part, like a kid in a candy store, I could barely take it all in, so big, so bright and so wonderful.  I loved, loved, loved Times Square at night.  It was amazing.  Not just the marquees, the lights, the plays and the people.  It was the life, the excitement!   It truly is the city that never sleeps. Now to add to ALL the excitement and things to see, let us add the fact that it was CHRISTMAS!!!!!  So all the lights and decorations were everywhere multiplying my excitement! I have to stop here and say, the temperature was dropping dramatically.  I love the street vendors, I stopped and bought another muffler, heavier gloves and a couple of those head bands that cover your ears!!!  It was more than cold, it was freezing!  But we kept walking. Down a little to Radio City Music Hall and then around the corner to the Rockefeller Center.  The huge Christmas tree was beautiful, a very large Grinch was walking around and of course I had my picture made with him in front of the tree.  We saw the ice rink and walked around for the view through the lit trees down the center to the gold statue of Prometheus.  We were then on 5th Ave.  Stopping to look at the decorated holiday windows and to get a Starbucks warming cup of coffee, we kept walking all the way down to the Empire State Building.  My feet were now numb from walking and the cold.  Talk about a freezing activity, we were on the top of the Empire State Building until it closed at 11:30pm.  The view of course was not as good as during the day, but all the city lights were amazing from up there. By the time we arrived back at the hotel after midnight, we were blocks of ice.  I estimated that we had walked over 45 blocks that night in teen digit temperatures. This post only spoke of the first night I had arrived.  We did 100 things that weekend, seems like.  It was not my only trip and I intend that I have not had my last trip there.  I will tell more of this and other trips to NYC later, but one of the great things about this special trip was that we were in Grand Central just at the right time when they started the laser show on the ceiling!  I love the Grand Central Market too!  Another great thing was that I was able to do Christmas shopping at NY Macy's, FANTABULOUS!  NYC rocks!

Jets Win! 28 - 21

Good Job Jets!

I did not expect this...

Packers and Bears!

Jets and Steelers, here we go!

Bears Win 35 - 24

On my way to Mass!

Good Grief again...

Another hawk touchdown!  Juust a bit outside....

Call It A Night....

The party's over...
They say the Bears
Will meet the Cheese...
Call it a night!
The party's is over...
And the Hawks will have to wait another year.

11 Football Minutes

I have seen it before, it can be done :|
18 points in 11 minutes...
3 touchdowns
2 touchdowns & 2 field goals... :|
Wonder who the Packers are rooting for?

I Would Have Gone For It!

Just saying...

Oh Man! And... I Think They Can Do It!

Seattle, pull it off!

Let's make this a serious upset!

I think they can - I think they can!

Let's get this party started Hawks!

I am praying for the injured guys.

Oh my gosh another injury!

Way To Sack!

Turn it around Seahawks!

21-0 Bears

It can happen!

For Paul....

GO SEAHAWKS!!!!

Nice grass, snow, mud, classic Chicago Bear game!  I am cold just watching them!

(for my cousin Paul in California!!  Love you and Janie!)

14-0 Bears

top of 2nd

Packers Win 48-21

Be careful what my sickness wishes for, right?  The very good #1 Falcons dropped the ball.  My nemesis Packers kicked butt.

I wasn't really excited about this game tonight.  It was some good footballin' but I don't know tired, maybe... just not feeling it because I am missing my boys.  Think that's it!  But my replacement team the Steelers won and that one was tight and kept me on the edge.

Good night, see you in Chicago tomorrow!

Can't Hate On This

Good game, Falcons just aren't doing their thang and Packers are kickin it...

Pittsburgh Wins! 31-24

Congrats Orlando!  Now let's go do some hatin' on us some Packers!

Yousaa! 31 - 24 Steelers

Defensive Penalty!
Harbaugh Mad!
3rd and Goal!
And it is ...... TOUCHDOWN
But penalty...
Still touchdown!
Extra point?  YES
Steelers get that darn ball back!

24 - 24

Come on Steelers, you are #2 - do not give it away.  Protect Roeth... !
Great throw!  Great catch!  FLAG!  2 minutes warning!  1st and Goal!

SAAAWEEEEET!

Back to Steeler football...   No more fast forwarding... Thank you - excitement again!  Crap - another Roeth... sack and a field goal!  24-21

A Little More Like It!

I was about to apologize to all Steeler fans everywhere for backing their team with a possible Cowboy curse on me!  I could hear them booing me!  But after too many allowed sacks to Roeth... and a Rice fumble... P finally hit a familiar drive and touchdown in top of 3rd quarter!  21-14 (just about caught up)

Good Grief

21 - 7 Ravens
(still not caught up yet)  I am deflated - what the heck?

OMG Live Ball!

Are you freaking kidding me, live ball and a Raven touchdown?  Red flag?  Yes? No?  No whistle... It is a fumble and yes there is a R touchdown!  Hello - Playoffs!  Divisional on the line here!  That ref said no more timeouts the rest of the game... :|

DVR rocks!

I am playing catch up on Steeler game!  P was rocking it, but hello are we Dallas?  Can we please not have death by penalties!  I haven't caught up yet, working on it!  7 - 7 so far.

Back To The Games

The Cowboys aren't in it.  So who am I hoping for?

First, the Steelers.  Definitely a love to hate thing going on here, long time rivals, but I am hoping the Steelers go all the way this year.  They are good, wish Cowboys were in it and playing them in the bowl.  Ain't gonna happen so I am rooting for the Steelers.  Glad for you Orlando!  (still never America's team)

Next, Falcons or Packers?  Should be a given, right.  Arghhh I so love to root against the Packers!  And the Falcons are great this year, they so deserve to  move forward.  But I have this sickness, I cannot stand the Packers this year...  I enjoy yelling against them and threatening Matthews so much, do I really want them to advance so I can hate them in the Superbowl????  Maybe I do.

Can they beat the Falcons?  I am not sure.  Can they beat the Pats if they do?  Probably not.  Do I want to spend my Cowboy'less playoff ranting against the Packers, I think I do!

Notice I am not even thinking about the Bears, Seahawks or Ravens - what about an upset???

Let the games begin!

Bag "O" Heads

I moved into my house not knowing the prior tenants.  All is good, but because of a house we called haunted years ago, I always wonder what is in the attic!

I had a telephone line issue a few months ago and had to call the telephone man.  T-man came and ultimately had to go into the attic.  Not having my ladder, he brought his own.  When he went into the attic, I asked him to look around while he was up there and tell me what he saw.  He agreed.

So me standing at the foot of his ladder, he started reporting down to me.  Just a couple of things up there out of the ordinary.  First a very large aquarium, like 3x6.  It was empty of course, thank goodness.  We discussed it must have been used for a reptile of some kind.

Then to my surprise, he started to describe the second item.  There is a big black trash bag, tied closed.  I said something like really?  Not trash I hope.  He said I am not going to open it but it feels like a bag of heads.  (I am so laughing right now.)  I am like, "not real ones of course, right?"  He said I doubt it, but I feel eyes, noses, lips, etc.  My curiosity is more than peaked, so I go up ladder and take a look.  I see a trash bag closed up and it does have like rounded like bumps around it.  We discussed it and believed they were not skulls!  Too rounded.

T-man is now in the back of the attic doing his job.  I decided to wait on the pursuit of finding out what kind of heads.  I am thinking he is not interested in helping me and I am not going to open a bag of heads when I am alone.  Even though I am thinking something like styrofoam or maybe he is mistaken. 

It was very hot up there and T-man was melting, so he came down closed up the attic and went on his way.  My thought was I will have my son come with his ladder and we will investigate.  And no I am not afraid of living with a strange bag of heads in my attic, what is wrong with me!

Time passed and most of the time, I forget about the heads in the attic.  Most of the time.  But with my friends and family it pops up often in a conversation and is quite the fun and strange topic.  All of those without a ladder want me to hurry up and find out what it is.

A good while later, Trish, my bud was at my house when the AC man came to fix the air conditioner.  So, we could not help ourselves, we asked the AC man to hand down the bag of heads.  He was perplexed but did it anyway.

It wasn't heavy, I carried the bag outside to the porch.  Didn't want to open curious, strange, don't know what is inside, bag in the house!  As I was tearing the bag, I immediately saw and felt hair, ewwww.  Then I started seeing heads.  Deep breath.  I very quickly saw fake faces, like mannequins, but softer.  Even though I knew what they were, as I was digging down to see more and how many, as I saw the top of a new head I had this strange feeling inside.  Like what if one of them turns up real!

There were about 10 heads in the bag, each one different and complete down to the neck.  With different hair styles.  We believe they were used in a hair salon and if I am not mistaken they had real hair on them.  What a trip!  We had a photo op!  The one on the ledge was taken by a cel phone and it is kind of blurry but you get the drift!  (Trish now sees that pic every time I call her)

 I do not know what I am going to do with the bag "O" heads, but thinking of re gifting or Halloween, the possibilities are endless!

Frogs

I was blessed to be able to raise my children in the country.  Even to this day, they actually say how much they loved it and wished all their children could have the same fun as they did.

There are many, many stories of interest and hilarity from those days.  We owned a small ranch and had many acres leased.  We raised cattle, had horses, baled our own hay, had multiple 4 wheelers and a little bit of everything else on this little ranch.  Definitely a recipe for adventure, especially for my kiddos.

On this piece of land we called ours was a stock tank, it was an adventure all its own for my children. 

Actually since they have grown up, I have heard stories I wished I hadn't heard about things I did not know went on. :)  Happily I can say that my kids were as adventurous as myself as a child and more.  What a blast and sometimes scary to think about.  They were not afraid.

One day while living there, I opened my refrigerator door and saw something I knew I had not put there.  I was perplexed.  I opened this strange looking tupperware container very cautiously.  And to my great surprise it was stuffed full of frog legs!  Not big restaurant style frog legs, but almost a hundred little country frog's legs all stuffed in this bowl.

I am not sure but I think I shrieked, calling for my children for explanation!  Funny how I knew it was them!  My two youngest were just a year apart, my youngest daughter and my son, so they grew up like twins.  Constantly pushing the limits.  But actually, in this one they were quite sincere.  As I intensely inquired of why there were frog legs in my frig, they were completely excited to tell me.  No guilt this time, just excitement.

They had obviously been enlightened, by TV I am sure, that people actually served and ate frog legs and they were delicious!  So they set out on a mission to gather many frog legs so that I could cook them up for supper!

So all day long they spent by and near the stock tank, catching frogs.  Bless those little frog's hearts, these 2 children, probably about 5 and 6 years old, went to cutting off all their little legs and put 'em in a bowl.  I seriously cannot remember what happened to all the legless bodies after that.   "shiver" 

These 2 little hooligans were so proud of themselves.  And they truly expected that I would be so happy that they had provided supper.  After hearing the excited tale, my intensity turned to compassion and of course a little freaked.  But I understood their mission.  I was no longer angry, but rather proud of their ingeniousness, although much misdirected.

I cannot remember how I bowed out of cooking 100 little tiny frog legs for supper, I may have just exclaimed, I am not cooking little frog legs for supper!  I tried very much to explain how they should not kill the little frogs again for supper, but that it was a great effort to make me proud and that I appreciated it.  BUT, no killing frogs and no putting strange things in my frig without asking me!!!  The sad thing here is that, the frogs all must have bled out, they just cut off their legs and tossed them aside!  Or maybe they grew new legs, that would be nice.  Good grief.

I love my adventurous, intelligent and kind children.  They grew up with good hearts and I think that is wonderful.  I am constantly telling them to remember such and be patient with their own children!

The moral of this story is, hold your anger until you know the whole thing.  Whether it be children or adults, the intent really was the important thing here, not the action!  Good grief, I do not eat frog legs in a restaurant.  The problem:  they all look like frog's legs in a tupperware container to me.

That Thing Going Around

I hate being sick!  I won't go into the details but something that was "going around" landed on me.  I am somewhat better now.  Not quite but somewhat...

Everything just gets put on hold.  Had to take a couple of sick days, now I am trying to play catch up with work.  Doing double time here to meet deadlines!  Had some conference calls, but I wasn't my usual talk it up self.

I had to turn down a visit from out of town friend.  Had to turn down dinner plans.  Which I hate because I am hungry!  I have been living on crackers and sprite and the occasional soup.  But really, when your sick, even those taste weird.

On a more serious side, I cannot go see my mom when I have any sickness.  She is in a nursing home and a person cannot take the chance of giving those little old people a bug of any kind.

I am climbing the hill to better, even though it has been only 4 days, I feel like I have been out of many loops for at least a week.  Hope you are all doing well and watch out for that thing that is going around!

Down And Out In Fort Wortherly Hills

I am sick... not sure about sickly blogging.  Everything's a mess and I am worn out and creativity is much affected.  Be back later.

Why Scream?

Why scream?  Just relax and enjoy the ride!

I will always ask myself that question about the following incident!

The setting is Clovis, CA.  The same ranch where the cream puff story happened.  We lived on this ranch because my father trained quarterhorses.  My older sister, Sue, showed these horses and had done so since she was little.  She started winning when she was 7.  She was great at it from the beginning and she had this unusual gift and lack of fear where these horses were concerned.  Not me on either count.  They were huge horses and they were temperamental and sometimes down right mean. :)  At this ranch, one of them bit her thumb nearly off.  I had no problem not being the #1 daughter and recipient of all my father's horse related gifts.

I could ride a horse and did for years, but not these guys, well let's just say I had a great respect for their power and their minds.  I was the girlie girl, I did not need to prove anything.  I embraced fear when necessary!  Horse's minds are what you need to pay attention to, they have personalities and you must know them and respect them.  Not being afraid of them made all the difference in your success to control them.

We lost our Sue when she was 20.  She was amazing, fiercely independent, funny as all get out and we miss her.  She was strong and wild and yet, soft as a kitten on the inside.  When I tell you life is short, this is one of the reasons that I know this.  I wish I had told her more that I admired her and how much I loved her.  She was there one minute and gone the next.  There are many, many stories I love to tell about her.  She was fearless when it came to horses.  I would watch her through the years and just never stopped being amazed at what she could and would do.

Back to our story, so let's see, I was about 7.  This would make Sue about 11.  Bren was still a wee one.  While Sue was very active with the quarterhorses, she and I had other horses that we played on.  We did very many adventurous activities involving these horses, Smokey and Shaver, we had a blast.

I remember mentioning in a past Moody about this place and how we used to ride our horses through the vineyard and orchards to get to the store.  We didn't have bikes, we rode horses.

On one occasion we were doing just that and in the orchard, Sue was ahead of me and had stopped to pick a peach.  She stood up in her saddle and reached up into the tree to grab one.  I, being behind her a bit, was not completely standing up, but on my way attempting to do the same.  All would have been fine, but...

Sue, for some strange reason, bounced back down in her saddle, turned her horse back towards me in too fast of a motion.  I knew the minute I saw her in a run that this was a mistake.  My horse reacted.  To this day, I believe his thoughts were, "Whoo hoo!  Back to the barn and food!"  Sue was the leader, so therefore her horse was the leader, get it?  They run, we run.

My fears were confirmed, before I could settle back into my saddle with feet in stirrups, Shaver, turned.  He was thrilled and took off.  He thought this was fun time race back to the barn, which had happened on purpose many times before.  That was not Sue's intention and totally not my intention, but Shaver became a race horse in the blink of an eye.  Unlike normal, I was in the lead.  Shaver was a horse possessed and I could not stop him or even slow him down.  This was not the norm, I always had control of him, not this time.

I have no idea why I panicked, seriously.  Although we did have to cross a real road on our race path to the barn, which we did without incident.  I was not afraid of Shaver at all or what he would do.  We had done it all.  Maybe I knew at this speed, if I did hit the ground, it was going to hurt big time.  I had made it back in the saddle, feet in stirrups, but I did not have the reigns.  No big deal, right?  I have ridden without one or the other before, no saddle, no reigns or no stirrups even!  Hold on and act like you are making him run, what's the difference!?!

Maybe it was Sue, riding her horse like a jockey in the Kentucky Derby trying to pull up beside me to stop Shaver, I don't know.  She succeeded in getting up beside me for just a minute or two, I think we got the reigns in control, but even she could not stop Shaver.  He was not stopping.

Now let's stop the story for a moment and set another scene.  At our house, on the way to the barn, my fly by eta was less than 2 minutes, my dad was having a very important meeting.  A meeting with some very important people about more horse training.  A decision making meeting, I believe.  Mom was at the kitchen sink in front of the kitchen window, which I will soon pass.

  

Back to me and the Secretariat wanna be, Shaver.  So, much to my dismay, when Sue did not keep up with me and my horse, panic set in.  I started screaming, I am much in the belief that Shaver kicked it into a higher gear than we had ever been in before and so the fear kicked in too.  I am screaming.

Needless to say, as I passed the house, the meeting was interrupted by my vocal chords and my mom saw and heard as I flashed by the window.  So stupid, I still laugh when I think about it.  Because in 30 seconds from that point we arrived at the barn.  Shaver stopped at a bale of hay and then acted like nothing had happened.  I am sure he is thinking at this point, boy that was fun, I'm hungry.

Let's not forget that the stop was abrupt.  Had I not been hanging on for dear life, I probably would have gone right over his head at that moment.

This was our life, and I loved it.  Life back then was not so careful and worrisome about the kids and their antics.  We were not patted all the time.  We fell off our horses all the time, we even knocked each other off of our horses.  We were taught that playing and working were part of life and the bumps and bruises were expected.  If you didn't get them you probably weren't giving it your all.  The whole house did not come running out to hold me and comfort me.  Someone checked on us, probably mom, saw that we were stopped and ok and everything carried on.  Are you bleeding?  Is there a bone sticking out?  If the answers were no, fine, go play.

If I am right about my dad, he said something later like, now gall dernit, I was having a meeting!  And, I hope you taught him a lesson?  Horses were never allowed to get their own way, if it wasn't your intention.  In other words, shut up and get back on that horse and show him who is boss, or don't ride!  Actually he did say that more than once, and he meant it.  I remember another occasion in particular.  Dad was let's say, not over protective or attentive.  So yeah, I didn't get off the horse and have a good cry, actually I was probably mad.  I am sure I gave Shaver a "you scared me to death, anger type" piece of my mind, in less than a screaming tone, and then we went right on doing our thang!

This one ranch, like many of the others, was a source of tons of fun and many, many stories to come.

Now don't let me give you the wrong impression, if something bad happened, my parents were all over it with attention, love and help.  My parents were not short on adventure in their lives and personalities that is for sure.  There are a few stories in our future.  Hurricane, broken arm, yellow jackets, etc.

Stormy, Stormy Night

It was a dark night. Not too far away you could see and hear the storm fast approaching. In the distance you could see the lightning dancing through the skies. Normally, I love a good thunder storm, but this night we knew it could cost us money.

Husband and I had a little ranch. We had several pastures leased elsewhere for our cattle grazing and growing our own hay. We had 2 daughters at this time and I was a couple of months from having our son. This was spring and we had already baled our hay, we had a small load of hay still on the truck waiting to be moved into the barn the following day.

For reasons I can't remember there was no one that could get to us fast enough to help get the hay in the dry before the rain started. So someone already watching the girls, husband and I drove over to the lot where the truck of hay sat in front of the barn. It wasn't too huge of a load and we quickly formed a plan. Husband moved the truck near the opening, cleared a path through the hay on the trailer, helped me up and I started carefully using my feet to kick the bales off the trailer.

Now don't get all excited, I was a tough little girl. Living in the country, I did all kinds of things when I was expecting and I was smart about it. I was young and fit and my body was used to it. No lifting, no using my hands or back, just sat back on my butt and kicked them off with my feet.

We moved fast and husband picked up and stacked as fast as I could kick them off. When it came to bales I couldn't leverage off, husband took over. It started sprinkling on us before we were finished. We barely made it, the lightning was almost too close for comfort right as we finished. We were proud of ourselves and grateful we saved the hay.

I took refuge in the truck while husband tightened and closed it all up in the barn. He got in the truck wet with rain and it felt good to us then to accept the spring thunderstorm. To enjoy the rain smattering the truck as we were now safe inside. And to see the lightening crash through the skies as if to warn us of its power.

It may sound silly to some, but what a magic moment. Life has so many of those moments that we overlook, because we work so hard, and because life is so hard sometimes. I am sure I missed a few, but there were many, many that I didn't miss.

I have had a good life, and I thank God for all of it. And I thank God for that husband who pushed me to my limits. Yep, in so many ways! I always say I was the girlie girl but I wasn't fragile. I was tiny, didn't weigh 100 lbs. soaking wet when I married him. But he thought I could do anything I set my mind to, or that he needed me to do at the time :)

And I was almost always up for an adventure, and proud of myself at the same time. I started pushing me too, there were a few brick walls, but mostly I gained some surprising experiences. No worries, when it was a bad idea or I knew I couldn't, I would say no. No way, your insane, nope.

On the other hand, sometimes I just wanted to smack him because I didn't want to try to do it, but I did it anyway, like holding the gate against a huge sow while he ran and got the ropes to pull her from the other side. She fought hard and I was up to my knees in pigpen. Smack!

Someday I will tell you about the time he stood me in the middle of the road and said, now do not let those cows get past you, as he ran away to get behind them and scream at them to move in my direction! Uh, hello, me little, them big. Big and running... talk about adrenalin! I wasn't the only player in this cow traffic situation, so no way I'm going to baby out!

BE HAPPY PEOPLE! Sit in the truck the next time it storms with someone you love, it's pretty cool.

Playoff Woes

I am sorry Saints & Colts are out already.

Next week will be better, Steelers, Pats, Falcons...
I actually hope Packers win today so I can be vehemently against them next week!

Re-Calculating!

I love the Allstate commercial, GPS re-calculating!  Also the one that the GPS says, "Stomp hard on the brakes, right now!  That is so typical!  How funny!

I have had some navigator issues myself and I really love it when it says something like, you are going the wrong way, you missed your turn or I told you to veer right!  Priceless!  Re-calculating!

I remember when On-Star was brand new and my co-workers and I were traveling all the time.  One of my friends flew into Chicago and got her rent car.  As she was now driving to her final destination, she was checking out all the goodies in her upgraded rental, we were platinum everything, the perks were good. 

Pushing buttons and trying out things, she hit the onstar button, not knowing what it was.  I am already laughing... She said, out of nowhere came a lady's voice: "Hello, this is Laura, can I help you?"  She was seriously perplexed and actually looked around in her vehicle to see if someone was in there with her.  LOL.  She answered:  "No, who are you?"  When she told me I laughed at her so hard!

Speaking of platinum everything and rental cars, I arrived very late, like 1am in Hartford.  There were NO rental cars at all, I was a preferred person and I had a reservation, so they worked very hard to find me a car.  I ended up with one of the employee's pimped out, racing striped, 5 speed Mustang.  Bright yellow with black stripes and a trigger accelerator.  Quite the experience!  I rocked the roads for days!

Freeze Time

We here in Texas are bracing ourselves for temps in the twenties and maybe teens. Wind-chill !!!! It doesn't happen often in Texas but every so often we have a frigid few days or a week maybe. It usually causes all kind of havoc.

I know we are not alone in this northerly drop in temps across the US, but it is a bit different here. A colleague of mine from the north was wondering about why one of the first things we do is wrap the pipes! Well I don't know why that is not a regular occurrence in northern states but it is here.

Got to cover those faucets outside so the pipes don't freeze and burst. I thought that was normal. Anyway, if you are on the ball, you have already bought those little covers made for such a thing. But as with a lot of people, newspaper, an old towel, plastic bag and some duct tape will do the trick. This is Texas, those little covers sell out not long after the forecast is made. Alternative, not as attractive maybe, but it will do the trick.

I live in the city now, but days of old, I lived in the country. Seems to freeze harder in the country, not sure what is up with that. Way back when I was much, much younger, I lived in a very small house, husband and first baby daughter, Casey, also. She was only a couple of months old.

We had about 10 acres, the start of our small ranch. We also had some cattle. At this time we had about 5 feed eating calves in a pen across the pasture from our little house. I signify feed eating calves because at times we had bottle fed calves. These calves needed to be fed. This was a hardship when husband was gone and baby couldn't venture out in the cold with me.

One very cold and icy night, husband was gone for his job. He was a lineman and this is just the kind of night he would have to be called to work. Baby Casey and I were in our little house (this is the house with the icy porch I told you about) and it was dark outside. There was ice and snow on the ground and we had the house heaters on trying to keep toasty. Which was fine, but then all of a sudden fires went out. We had run out of butane. You know that silver tank out back that fed the fires of the home!! Shoot, not a good time for this.

Now into the story comes one of the nicest men I have ever known, Quinton Neely. I loved that man. It was a very small town and he was the butane man. I knew him personally because his daughter was my sister in law and because it was a small town. Everybody knew Quinton, he wore a lot of hats and he was quite the character. So I called him, I felt really bad but it could not be helped. I imagined he hated when people called at a time like this. Last minute and all. Ice on the ground and such. But I also knew he loved me and would be right at my aid. I had an absent dad at the time and he was like a dad to me! And this was not the only time he was there for me.

When he came to my aid, he actually helped more than just butane. He also listened for the baby while I went to feed the calves. So we, he and I, spent some time breaking up the calf feed (it was frozen). He patiently watched out for Casey while he filled the tank and I went out to the pasture. He of course had offered to go out for me, but I would not hear of it. This was part of my life and lively hood, my job if you will. So I donned the coat, boots and hood and headed out. I carried a bucket of feed and a light to find my way and went out to my waiting, hungry calves.

I returned, calves were fed, tank was filled, home was warm and after a big hug, he drove away.
What a blessing Quinton was for me that night. My knight in shining butane truck!

Stay warm and safe everybody!

My True Grit Review - I Loved It!

True Grit was pretty perfect! I loved this movie from every angle! What a great movie, great actors all around! Even the smaller parts. I could list a hundred things I love about this movie.

I give it a 95! I loved John Wayne’s True Grit and I have seen it many times, it is priceless! Comparing these two, even though it is the same title and story, is like apples and oranges and I am very happy about both of them! One is a classic John Wayne and great. This one is movie making and acting at their finest and it is great.

Excellent cinematography! Like unto Cold Mountain or The Assassination of Jesse James by The Coward Robert Ford. But very importantly unlike the latter of those two, I was not bored for one second in this movie. Not just excellent scenery, location, settings, but real, vivid and engulfing. The angles and close ups, the lighting and even the sounds were perfect. This movie was like reading a very good book, only better. I relaxed back and enjoyed the ride. Three times I jumped in my seat at an action taken, I will not give anything away! I haven’t read the book, on which this movie was based, but if the book was like this movie I would imagine a great read. A book you could hardly put down. One that drew you into the story, the way this movie did.

Probably the best thing about this movie is the conversation of it all. The dialect, dialogue, the speech of it all. They did this script right! Talk about a movie full of quotes! And the mix of humor was also perfect, most of it coming from the dialogue and the way they spoke, the lines they delivered each and every one of them. Only one of my favorite lines, and seriously there are many, is “you do not varnish your opinion.” There are better lines, but again, not giving anything away.  It's smart.

When you go see this movie, pay attention, you want to hear every word.

Ok, now for the actors, fantastic ensemble, great casting, kudos to them all.

Jeff Bridges, Oscar bound I am sure of it. He has always been fantastic and he did not disappoint at all, not one iota. His voice was so gravelly, I felt it. His speech, facial expressions and mannerisms had no faults. I am not surprised at all. He rocks with talent and always has.



And Hailee Steinfeld was perfect in this movie, not one fault could I find. What a find she was. Her speech and everything else was again straight on what this movie needed to make it right. I was impressed, she is also Oscar bound, I’d bet on it.

Matt Damon, when is he ever not good? His character in John Wayne’s movie was played by Glen Campbell and I always thought he was a terrible actor in that but I still liked him in it. Now I understand this. It is the character in the book and Matt Damon played the character to a T. I very much enjoyed him playing this part and hearing him perform the dialogue that was unique to La Boeuf, his Texas Ranger character. I loved it!



Now here are my two surprises, Josh Brolin, I was not paying attention before, but he played Chaney, all along I somehow thought he was to play Ned Pepper. Josh is sooo handsome and his character surprised me in ways I won‘t say yet. He played him well and looked good doing it.



Biggest and loved this surprise - Barry Pepper played Ned Pepper. In all the hype of this movie, I kept hearing Duvall’s voice! And I thought Robert Duvall is in this movie and they didn’t advertise it???? I love Barry Pepper anyway and when I realized it was him, I was thrilled and amazed. Did I say I love him? He was great in this and yes he sounds exactly like Robert Duvall. He could play Robert Duvall in a movie about him. If you don’t know who I am talking about, he was the sniper in Saving Private Ryan. I hope to see him more after this, he does great in a western!

Another thing, I kept asking myself, who is that bear man?

I love western movies, always have and I am so glad every time they put a new and good one out. This one is excellent. Go see it! And go see it in the theater, the effects cannot be as well appreciated, I am sure, if you wait for the DVD.

Someday after everyone has seen it I may tell you the 5% negatives, microscopic as they are!

Going To See True Grit!

I have been looking forward to this!



I Love To Fly!



I absolutely love to fly. I have been blessed to be able to fly in several different kinds and sizes of airplanes. But never a helicopter, yet, it is on my list.

I was fortunate to have a couple of friends who were pilots and they flew me to my daughter’s college graduation in a small two seater. When we drove up to the airport and I saw the plane for the first time, I knew I was either going to hate this or love it. At that moment I really wasn’t sure, it was so small.  But we climbed up on the wing, got settled and buckled in with my headset on. We just began to taxi and I was hooked! It was so exciting, I felt like a puppy wanting to run back and forth to the windows on either side, to see all that I could see. Even when we were taking off, I had no inhibitions. The whole flight was great, but taking off and landing was the best. As we neared our destination, we slowed down and the pilot said we need to watch out for other small planes, eeeek. Hello! But it was great seeing the other planes circling around readying themselves to land. Then over the headset he apologized that he was about to bank hard to the left. I told him he could do rolls and I would love it. And I meant it. When he banked we were on our side looking down at the ground and it was exhilarating.

In commercial airplanes, I look out the window (always a window seat) it gives me such peace. I can sleep on a plane easily, but most of the time I am distracted from sleep just by observing the clouds, the land, the bodies of water and much more. I don’t have all the pictures of the sites I saw, but I wish that I did.

I flew on Sept 10, 2001 and was scheduled to fly back on Thursday, of course it was cancelled. I stayed in Connecticut for another week. When it came time to fly home, I was nervous until I stepped into my plane and it was like getting into my own car, I flew so much. Immediately I was not nervous at all and never was after that. I am so glad.

Garrett - Done Deal!