Lovin' this spring weather!

Thought I would catch you up on our life so here come the bullets:

• Don and I went to Kyle to visit Josh and Kara and see their new home. Wow! It is so nice and we both just loved it. Great floor plan, just a great house. And brand new! I am so happy for them and know they will have fun decorating it and just making it theirs. Josh cooked us a wonderful lasagna dinner and we had a fun visit. I was disappointed not to get to visit with their two cats, Sunny and Rosey, who are still traumatized by the move and in hiding. And we all need to pray for Kara to find a job in Kyle---that commute to San Antonio is about to do her in.
• Alisa and I are going to the ranch tonight to check on things AND to go garage sales in Fredericksburg and Mason tomorrow. We are just looking forward to getting out there and having fun together. It has been way too long.
• A couple of weeks ago we had a big group over on Saturday and finally got the liner put in the big pond Don dug on our acreage next to house. It was quite a project. Then he worked for a week putting together the windmill that will aeriate the pond. He said he never had seen so many nuts and bolts in his life......Now tomorrow he and friends will put the windmill in place. Don has been filling the pond for the last 10 days with the hose. I have been really praying that the well and pump holds out. We are on a really huge aquafer but still......I really don't want to be hauling buckets of water to the house from the pond for our use....... It is almost full and looks really pretty. Don wants to put fish in it and get a little boat and just use it to have fun with grandkids swimming and fishin' in it. He is putting some sod and grass seed out, too, and will line it with big flat rocks. It should really be nice when all done.
• Tammie and I leave on our adventure to Georgia to see Adam graduate from boot camp on Tuesday. We are looking forward to the time together and to get to see Adam.
• I have the planting bug. I just love this time of year with all the pretty bedding plants in the nurseries. Love potting flowers. And even wish I still had my big vegetable garden...but we are just gone too much for that. Anyway, I keep looking for the wildflowers to pop out--saw just a few bluebonnets on the bridge going to Kingsland. Can't wait though to try my new camera on the wildflowers though.
• Speaking of my new camera...I have had more fun using the telephoto to take pictures of the birds coming to my feeders. I have a finch sock that is always full of pretty, colorful little finches and another feeder that attracks the cardinals and nuthatches. I just love watching the birds and especially love that melodial water dripping sound the Purple Martins make--and the cheerful songs of the Mockingirds and the mournful calls of the doves. I just love spring!
• That's all for now--I need to finish potting my new marigolds and lantana--the outdoors bekons......

Happy Birthday, Tammie

I have written before about how much God has blessed me by giving me the desires of my heart. Growing up an only child I had always yearned to have a sister--my idea of a sister was like having a best friend that was with you all the time--you got to share living in the same house.

Another desire of my heart was to have a big family--extended family living together or close to each other. I remember my neighbor in Houston sharing with me how she grew up in a big old house in the country with her cousins and grandparents--several families living under the same roof and how fun it was and how close they were. That was the kind of life I wanted.

And it all happened--a little bit at a time--but God fulfilled those desires of my heart. And one of those answered prayers came in the person of Tammie. Tammie and my oldest son, Brian, married very young and had two children--Adam and Amber. Their marriage fell apart and in 1989 Tammie and my two grandchildren moved in with us. Adam was almost 3 and Amber was 9 months old at the time. Our family already numbered seven: Rick, me, Micah, Christy, Josh, Jenny, and Gina (who was then our foster child). And we had foster child number 2, Robert, a failure to thrive two-month old, on his way to us as soon as he was released from the hospital. So we quickly became a family of eleven.

What can I say but that God’s grace was all over this. Tammie and I got along fantastically and shared in the raising of these kids and the many other foster children that would pass through our doors over the next seven years. Tammie blossomed from a frightened, insecure teenager who didn’t even have her driver’s license yet into an awesome, nurturing mother, a fabulous cook, a creative homemaker, an excellent college student, and a leader of the Children’s program at church, and a dear friend. Together, we home schooled, led Girl Scouts, survived T-Ball, Little League, Little Dribblers, Gymnastics, Vacation Bible School and various other kid activities along with enjoying the trials and tribulations of the older kids teen years.

Ours was a crazy, rambunctious, but fairly orderly and disciplined household. It was everything I ever dreamed of and more. And Tammie more than fulfilled my longing for a sister. Yes, technically she was my daughter-in-law, but we just had a closer, more equal, relationship than that. We were peers raising our children together; she became that sister I always wanted. Two women living in the same house can often be a disaster but for us, because of God’s grace, it was a beautiful success. Tammie is my very closest female friend whom I love dearly and thank God for bringing her into my life. I treasure those 7 crazy years together and cherish the wonderful memories we shared--and the memories we continue to make.

I am awed by her--she inspires me. She completed her degree while living with us and is an excellent, well-respected Occupational Therapist. She can just do anything she sets her mind to--a very hard worker whose creativity and love for others just spills over into everything she does. And I am so happy that God saw fit to put Jess Fisher in her life and bless her with such a wonderful husband who loves her so much.

So all this to say Happy 40th Birthday, Tammie. You are wonderful and I pray you will have 40 more wonderful birthdays to celebrate. And may our times and adventures together just get better and better. We soon will be GRAND-PARENTING together!!! Yipee!!!

You are loved.

Time for Bullets

• So good to be home. Got back from Arkansas on Friday night. We both enjoyed working on this Disaster Response--loved Arkansas and the great people there.
• Our weather is sure all over the place....97 one day (in Llano) and then 29 last night.....and that wind is something else.
• We had a brush fire come within a block of our house. They stopped it just before it got to the outbuilding of the house down the street.
• We have a new baby calf--about a week old--so very cute and frisky.
• Went to the ranch yesterday to get the Bobcat as Don is determined to finish his pond here. He worked on it all day today. Has bunch of friends coming on Saturday to help him put the liner in. We have big visions of fishing with grandkids in it.
• It is starting to feel like spring: my Jasmine is in bloom, the birds are singing, just that feelin' is in the air. I expect to see a few Bluebonnets poking their heads out soon. And I can already taste the strawberries from Sweetberry Farm down the road. I love spring.
• We are thankful to have escaped all the flu and bugs going around.
• That's all my news for now. Just enjoying the time at home.

Is anyone out there?

Hey, I am getting real lonely here in blogworld. We are away from home and I miss hearing from everyone and I blogged a bunch and every time I get to log on I am so excitied to see if there are comments and what do I see but......0 comments. I need comments! I need to know someone cares about me out there. I am sad and let down.

And Tania, Christy, Gina, Kara---are you ever going to blog again? I miss you.

ok--I said it, now I will take down the pity party decorations.

Our service center closed down and everyone has left but Don and I who have to stay and do casework out of our motel. There really is not much to do so it is like a day off. It is cold and rainy outside so good day to rest up in motel room. Hastings is across the street so I did have some fun browsing there this morning. We might have snow tomorrow.

Glimpses of the Past

My "H"

Ok--remember a few posts back when I complained about my H on my keyboard sticking and being very cantankerous. Well, after we got to Arkansas, I pulled out my laptop and the H worked pretty as you please--just like it was supposed to. Guess the gremlin just needed a little plane ride.........

Greetings from Arkansas

Don and I have been in Arkansas for a week with Red Cross helping victims of the wicked tornadoes that swept across the state on Feb. 5. We are working in Gassville and Mountain View and staying in Mountain Home. We have done lots of driving doing outreach--where we go house to house checking on people so we have seen lots and lots of awful destruction. Part of interviewing victims and doing casework is listening to their stories of what happened. The people here are just so nice, warm, friendly, resilient, gracious, giving, unselfish,--just plain good people. The communities are awesome. They take care of each other. They are there for each other. Churches all work together to serve their community and open their arms and help. We have to practically beg people to take our help. Never have we worked a disaster where more people have insurance. And these are not wealthy, well-to-do areas. The average income is around $25, 000. But they have ingegrity. They lead decent and orderly lives. I would venture to say the vast majority of them have a strong faith in God and live out that faith. It is such a pleasure to work here and get to meet and talk with this community.
Tornadoes are just so fickle. So very unpredictable. Unless you witness firsthand their destruction it is almost unbelievable. How can they destroy a brick home yet leave a vase of flowers on the table? They mow down three houses in a row, skip one, and mow down three more. They are just so weirdly awesome and so wickedly deadly. I am awed by the stories I hear so in the next post I will share some with you.
We are enjoying our co-workers on this job and just being here to help out what we can. Alisa and the animals are having fun at home. Happy Valentines Day!

oh, and this--the highschool gym where we have our service center is also a donation drop off that the teachers are doing to help the community. It is like being in the middle of a huge garage sale and not able to look or touch----it's driving me nuts!

Tornado Stories

I have an awesome story of survival to tell you about. There was a family who lived on Main St. in Gassville, Arkansas, one of the hardest hit areas of the state, who came to Red Cross for assistance. Gassville’s sirens never went off to warn people. This was their description of the moments before the tornado struck. The mother had been home sick in bed all day. Older son, who normally would have been on computer in his room, had gone to the school to get the younger son from basketball practice. Dad and daughter were in the living room with six year old they were watching for a friend. At about 5 pm Dad saw the friend pull in the driveway and went to tell his wife her friend was there. She got up out of bed, went to kitchen and made a pitcher of tea noticing her friend was still in car talking on the phone. Dad happened to glance out the window and saw the patio furniture levitating and the darkness of the sky. He grabbed the six year old and dove under the big oak dining table in the kitchen, covering her with his body as he yelled for the others to take cover. The mother said one moment she was reaching in the cabinet to get a glass to pour herself a glass of tea and the next moment she was on the floor with rain pouring down. The only wall left standing was the one with the cabinet she was reaching into. All the other walls and the roof were gone. The oak table saved the lives of the father and friend’s child as it kept the wall and roof from falling on them. The daughter described screaming as the wall “chased” her. The friend road out the storm in her car out front--it was battered badly and a large metal object speared the seat next to her but she was ok. The two sons were ok but had they been at home and in their bedrooms, and had the mom still been in her bed they would not have survived. All family members were unharmed except for scrapes and bruises.

And the pitcher of tea stood on the counter undisturbed.


Rob had just gotten home from work when he heard the sirens so he sheltered in the pantry of his older, rock home. His home was nothing but a big pile of rubble in just a few moments but somehow he was able to crawl out from under it unharmed. He looked around him and heard a car horn closeby that kept honking ever so often. He discovered it was jammed into the rubble of his house and contained his neighbor who was honking for help. He had to remove debris and pull the man through the truck window. Don visited the neighbor in the hospital and he said he was in Walmart when he noticed the weather getting bad so he left quickly for home. The tornado struck before he could get from the truck into his house and his house and Rob’s ,across the road, both exploded and jammed his truck between them. He is recovering quickly.


Another family came in---a single mom with two boys. They lived in a mobile home on her brother’s land. When they heard the tornado warnings they evacuated to a neighbor’s home a few blocks away. The nine year old was worried about leaving his pet guinea pig in the house. They returned to find their home totally destroyed but as they walked into what used to be their home they heard a familiar squealing and found the guinea pig still on the bottom of his cage though his cage roof had blown away. He was shook up, but fine, and his boy was elated.

The only death we dealt with was a sad story. A woman lived in a mobile home and when she heard the warnings she evacuated to her boyfriend’s brick home. Her mobile home was untouched but she died when her boyfriend’s home was demolished. He is still in the hospital.

An elderly lady told me a sweet story. She had lost her husband a year ago and had given her son his dad’s recliner and some of his tools. The tornado destroyed most of her son’s home but the recliner was undisturbed and the tools remained on the workbench where he had placed them.

Oh, No!

It seems our dog saga has not yet ended. Today, Don got an email from the guy who took the yellow lab, Megan (the neighborhood menace). Sherman, our neighbor whose lady friend owned the dog, went to this guy and paid him $500 to get the dog back because his lady friend was so unhappy. The guy was not at all happy as he had put lots of time and money into keeping the dog. I so hope Sherman will not let her loose and will be responsible this time. This dog has cost him $2200.00 because of her bad behavior. Just when we thought we could relax and our pets would be safe......

Leaving for Arkansas

We just got the call to leave for Arkansas. Instead of driving the ERV we will be doing Damage Assessment. We're flying to Little Rock then driving to Russellville. This will be a different kind of assignment for us but we are looking forward to it. Doing damage assessment on tornadoes is not too hard as ,sadly, their generally is not much left to assess. It is weird how these tornadoes come so badly so early in the season. This time last year we were in Daytona Beach for tornadoes that hit there. Tornadoes are the worst disasters--so fickle in who they pick on--and so incredibly viscious.

Please pray for us to have comforting words and compassionate listening ears for those we meet and for God to be in charge of our assignments. It is so hard to know what to say to comfort those whose lives have just been so devastated. We just want God to use us.

So we are off. Will keep you posted

my Jenny Rose

We're off again (I think)

We bought a truck yesterday--2003 Ford-350 4x4 FX diesel crew cab. We love it--very roomy back seat, 4 doors, white. Don is beyond excited.

We are on call for Red Cross for the tornadoes that wrecked havoc across the nation this week--expect to leave today driving the ERV.

Went to the ranch yesterday to take hay and check on things. All was well. Animals were fine--lots of baby goats and lambs--so very cute. They all followed us in two lines as we walked the ranch. It was so good to be out there--as we were leaving we both commented at same time how we hate to leave the ranch.

We have enjoyed being home and getting stuff done around here and just resting up. Feels good.
I love February--those gorgeous days that bring hints of spring. I have been planting pansies and Johnny Jump-ups like crazy. Their sweet little faces are just so pretty and welcoming on my front porch and just lift my spirits.

I miss Mason and Grant something awful--have really enjoyed all the pics Jenny has posted.

My “h” on keyboard is acting up--so in my future writing if you see the word te--that means the. Sure are lots of h’s in words--slows down my typing something awful. Tank goodness spell ceck catches some of them.

My Computer Gremlin

Hi--I have a tale to tell. I have known for sometime that I have a gremlin in my computer who just likes to mess with me and drive me nuts. In times past he has: made my list of favorites just disappear; made my entire Quicken program disappear; taken the sound away and made my CD unable to copy CDs ---all these things would occur at different times, for no apparent reason then in a week or so they would suddenly reappear and work properly with no doing on my part. I had eyewitnesses to these problems!! They were real.
Well, a week ago I had used my computer on Sunday then the next morning tried to get online only to have my computer tell me that my modem--my internal modem--had gone missing. It just was not there--nor was the COM3 port it was supposed to be attached to. I tried all the diagnostics and stuff I could to discover the problem--so did Don and Micah spent over an hour on the phone with us trying to get to the bottom of the problem. Nothing would help.
So that is why I have been AWOL from the blogworld. It was making me so mad. I had to just leave the computer alone for days cuz I wanted to shoot it. So today, I decided enough was enough and called the repair shop in town and arranged to bring it in to the "Laptop hospital". So I get there and proceed to tell the technician my problems and he boots it up and, lo and behold, the sound chimes in, the modem is all there and she is working beautifully. It is like when you take a car to the repair shop for the weird noise it is making and it purrs perfectly for the mechanic........ I think the little gremlin got scared he was gonna be found and departed on the way to the doctor.
Then, I got to thinking about the other times when problems corrected themselves suddenly and they all involved me moving the laptop---going to the ranch; coming home from New York; coming home from San Angelo, etc. We have stayed put for over a month now and I think my computer missed the travel--was bored being on the same ole desk day after day--needed some excitement and new places and once I put her in the car and took her for a ride she straightened right up. So, thankfully, I am up and running again and can get online. I am so glad even if my son, Micah, is now absolutely sure his mom is crazy. I can't wait to catch up on blogs and all kinds of stuff. I never realized how much I use the internet until it is gone.
Don and I are busy searching for a new (used, but new to us) pickup truck. He has spent hours pouring over the internet looking for good deals and learning about the different options. We have looked at a few and really like a 2003 Ford-350 diesel crew cab we found in Austin. It is just such a nice truck, one owner, and so roomy yet so powerful which we need on the ranch and to pull the Bobcat. Will let you know how it goes.

Who is this baby?

Ok--who do you think this baby is? Leave your comment and I will tell you the answer tomorrow.

Our Weekend

Brrrrrr!! We have had some unusually cold, rainy weather lately. Though, after watching the Green Bay game last night I have NOTHING to complain about. But I have enjoyed sitting close to the woodstove and staying indoors. AND Jenny and her boys came home for the weekend. It was such a nice visit. We did nothing but visit, play games, play with the boys, eat, and watch a little football. The sausage soup and cornbread Jenny requested was perfect for our cold, rainy Friday night. Mason and Pop-pop played cars a lot and messed around outside together. It was just a nice quiet fun weekend. And now I sure miss them all since they had to go back home today. Thank you, Jenny, Mason, and Grant for coming to see us. Now, I'll go download the cute pictures I took of them. I love my new camera!

Dog Dilemna Conclusion

Don went over to our neighbors with the unruly dogs to talk to them about the problem. They acted like the only thing they could do would be to put the dogs down. Don told them that was not at all what we wanted but just that they kept them home. She said she just couldn’t keep them in all the time, kept saying they would have to get rid of them. Don suggested putting an ad online in the “freecycle” place and they agreed to that but said they did not have a computer. So Don offered to do it for them and put their phone number in the ad and they agreed. By that night he had had two responses to the ads and on Sunday someone came and loved “Megan”, the young yellow lab that is the most trouble. He lives in another town on acreage and has kids so it sounds like a great solution so Megan now has a new home far away. The new owner says he is thrilled with his new dog but it was a tearful farewell for our neighbors.

So why do I feel so awful and so guilty---instead of happy and relieved? Why did they have to let it come to this??? I feel so sad for this nice old couple that had to give up their dog. I hate being so mean. But I know we did the only thing we could do. We begged them to put up a fence, contain the dog somehow, get a neighbor kid to walk the dog daily, do something to keep the dog from being a neighborhood terror and nuisance. We ignored and tried to understand the first several killings of chickens--we have a Lab ourselves who will kill chickens when he has the chance--BUT we keep him contained in a fenced yard. It was just their unconcern for our pets and their safety that finally got to me. We did the Biblical thing and went to him first with our complaints---three or more times---we have three different eye witness reports of the dog with our chickens dead in his mouth and the owners even admitted he brought dead chickens home (and dead cats). How could they be so uncaring and unthoughtful of other people’s animals? What choice did we have but to call in the authorities? Even if he paid our vet bills but still lets the dog roam we were so fearful of Pete being mauled again once he is healed and allowed to go back outdoors. I feared for our other cats, our ducks and guineas, and I want to be able to have chickens once again. I know we did what we had to do to protect our animals but I feel lousy.

I hate stuff like this.

I'm Back

I’m back. I am re-entering the blog world. I have missed it so so much. I promise not to disappear for so long again. But I had to discipline myself to stay away. The computer just sucks time like a vacuum sucks dust bunnies and I needed to spend that time getting my house and my life back in order.

Seriously, we have been home so very little this year that I actually still had LAST Christmas’s magazines on the table by my favorite chair. And there were still Christmas presents from last Christmas sitting in my office still in their Christmas boxes and bags where I put them on Christmas afternoon of 2006.

You see, we left on December 29, 2006 for Arizona to help when Don’s dad went in for surgery. We stayed there for nearly three weeks and on our way home got called to the Oklahoma ice storms with Red Cross. Then we were home a week or so when we got called to the Daytona Beach, FL tornadoes in early February where we spend three weeks. Then we were home for a week or so before going to the ranch to take care of things there. Then to San Angelo for a bit for Kylah’s wedding and Mason’s birthday then back to the ranch for several weeks.

In mid-April we were sent to New Hampshire for the Nor’Easter flooding there. We spent two weeks there, flew to Ft. Lauderdale and spent three days with Don’s sister, Chris, before departing for a 10 day mission trip to Haiti to repair water well hand pumps. Six days after our return home from Haiti,family from New York arrived. We had a great visit with them and it was now June.

We spent the summer on 5 different Texas disasters--floods in Gainesville, Marble Falls, and Wichita Falls; flooding in San Antonio from Tropical Storm Erin, and damage on High Island from Hurricane Umberto. So we were never home for longer than two weeks at a time. First of September we went to the ranch and stayed there while Don worked on building a new fence until we were called to California for wildfires on the 23rd of October. Stayed in San Diego for three weeks, flew to New York for family visit there and arrived home a couple of days before Thanksgiving when we left again to spend it in Leander with the family. I was home one day after Thanksgiving before I left for San Angelo to stay for over a month taking care of Jenny’s boys and to spend Christmas there. We got back home from San Angelo on December 26 late. On the 28th 12 more members of my family arrived for a visit over New Years.

As of New Year’s Day it had all caught up with me. I was the most exhausted I have been since we worked 15 hours a day on Hurricane Katrina. I burst into tears at the thought of preparing one more meal. I just wanted everyone to go home and to get my house back in order---just to get me and the scattered pieces of my life and house back together. Don was sick with a really bad respiratory infection and I was worried about him. I was so stressed I could not sleep at night. Had it not been for Adam leaving for the Army and me wanting everyone to be there to tell him goodbye and support him, I would have called the whole visit off and just said NO. But it WAS a wonderful visit with everyone and I did enjoy it---just wished it had come at another time when I wasn’t already exhausted and stressed and felt like a stranger in my own home, and my husband had not been so sick.

So, after everyone left I made a big long list of everything that was bugging me that needed to be done to get me back to feeling I was somewhat in control of my life again and I knew where to find things in my house and the clutter was cleared (from my mind as well as my house). And I denied myself computer privileges until I got the majority of my list accomplished.

I have worked hard and diligently the past two weeks and accomplished great things. Maybe if someone else looked at my house they could not see it, but I do.

• Each room is ordered to my satisfaction.
• Thank you notes have been sent.
• Bills have been paid, files cleaned out, bookkeeping caught up.
• Don is feeling much better though he did have to start a second round of antibiotics.
• I took Gina to Dallas and she is happily enrolled in her new school, Christ for the Nations.
• Pete, the mauled cat who has had to live in a cage for six weeks, gets his freedom on Saturday and is healing nicely.
• I have enjoyed getting back in the routine of having a quiet time with God in the early mornings.
• I have potted several pots of pretty pansies to spruce up the dead looking front porch area.
• Don and I have enjoyed quiet evenings alone together watching some of the DVDs we got for Christmas.
• Alisa and I had a nice long lunch together.
• All my Red Cross stuff is organized and ready for our next adventure.

I had a quick run to the ranch and reunited two lost baby goats with their mama’s and was refreshed by the tranquility and peace that reigns there. Only alarming thing is that hunters called us yesterday to say they have heard coyotes and saw a dead goat yesterday so I imagine we might be heading to ranch next week.

But I feel good. I just needed to go into hermit mode for a couple of weeks and take care of me. It just feels so good to have order restored to my life--to begin the year now refreshed and renewed. I was really blessed by Jenny’s blog about God “thumping” her. I needed to hear all that myself. Just please Jesus and all else will fall into place. That’s it--so simple, but often so hard to remember. I catch myself getting all stressed about stupid stuff--how my house looks to others, etc. etc. etc. When all I really want is for it to be pleasing to Him--to be warm, welcoming, inviting, full of love and laughter, full of Him. And me full of Him, too. That is what is important. It is so good to be blogging and sharing thoughts with family and friends again. I have missed all of you. It is good to be back. (uh, beware following post--I was a tad upset.....)

I'm so Mad!!!

I am so mad right now. Early this morning I was sitting in my living room having my quiet time when suddenly I heard all this growling and commotion on my front porch. I ran to the door to see this black lab trying to get our big old tomcat, Big Sir. In his fury to get hold of our cat he knocked over and broke my pot plants. The cat escaped up the tree and I yelled at the dog to get out of here and he took off. It was then I saw coming from behind our house the stinkin’ yellow lab dog that has killed our chickens and ducks and mauled Don’s cat, Pete, to the point of over a $1000 in vet bills. Two neighbors were walking down the street when all this occurred and were my witnesses. Both of these dogs belong to the same owner. Don immediately jumped in his truck and followed the dogs home, confirming with the neighbors walking that these were indeed the same dogs, then knocked on the door repeatedly of the offending owner. Finally his girlfriend answered the door and said she just couldn’t keep the dogs inside and she shut the door in Don’s face. So we called the Animal Control officer out for the 2nd time and issued a 2nd complaint which meant a second fine for the owner.

In December when Pete was injured and Don filed the first complaint, he went to the neighbor who promised he would get a fence built and never let the dog out to roam again. He was very apologetic and even paid our vet bill which was $900 at that time. So we did not pursue further legal action. We had also come to the neighbor three different times when his dog was killing our chickens--each time he was very nice, offered to pay for them, and swore he would contain his dog. I should have been forewarned when he laughingly said his dog was dragging home dead cats as well as our dead chickens. Stupid me. We were nice then and took no money from him, just wanted the assurance he would be a responsible pet owner and contain his dog.

Two weeks ago we found a dead duck right outside our backdoor--one of our ducks. It had no visible damage or mauling to it so we didn’t know what to think. UNTIL neighbors told us this irresponsible neighbor had put a muzzle on his dog and was then letting him roam the neighborhood again. Thus, we figured he had killed the duck by crushing and stomping it, even if he could not bite it. BUT we have no proof of that. Muzzling your dog who terrorizes other people’s pets is not a solution for your problem. I am just so angry. This is an elderly couple--late 70’s I would say--who are doing this. We have tried to be nice and respectful with them but no more. This morning I filed a complaint with the animal control officer asking for a hearing about this issue. They will put lots of demands on him about his dogs and a time period to comply and if he does not they will destroy the dog. Now, I love dogs--all animals--which is obvious by our own menagerie--and it kills me to have to do this but what other choice do I have. I was so angry this morning that had I had a pistol close I think I would have shot him myself.

And the other thing that really makes me mad is the pot he broke was one Jenny and Mason painted for me for Mother’s day and I had just planted it with pretty purple pansies. Dumb, stupid dog. I am going to try to glue it back together. So that is my tirade for today.

How quickly one can go from praising God and worship to all out fury.

I'm still here

I miss blogging--seems I have been away for so long. It is just that the computer sucks your time so easily and there is so much to do. I had forgotten how long it takes to get the simple things done when you have kids to take care of also. I am very much out of practice. BUT, I have absolutely loved my time here with Jenny’s boys. I am going to go through severe withdrawal when we go home after Christmas. I am sure I will be depressed for days. They are so sweet and so fun and Gema loves them so much. I will miss snuggling with Grant throughout the day and watching all his cute faces and seeing his cute grins--especially when you change his diaper. And I have gotten hooked on watching Wonder Pets and Curious George in the mornings with Mason and going on “treasure hunts” with him. I treasure every moment of this month I have been here. But it has gone by so very fast…..and Jenny and I did not accomplish near as many things as we had hoped to. My Christmas letter has not been written, my cards have yet to be sent, but that is ok--they will just be New Year cards instead.

But, Bekah did graduate from college and we celebrated that milestone last Saturday. How fast those college years flew by---seems like she just graduated high school. What a wonderful blessing she has been to us. I am just so proud of her.

And Grant was dedicated to the Lord last Sunday in church. I have really enjoyed going to church here--have loved the sermons by Pastor Henry and his son, Landon. I am really looking forward to the Christmas Eve service there. And we still need to drive around and see the Christmas lights around San Angelo--there are so many pretty ones.

I like San Angelo and love visiting here. I can finally navigate around town without getting too lost. Many trips out to Christmas shop have helped out there. I remember back to my own childrearing days when Tammie and I would do our “marathon” shopping trip and get it all done in one long day. We would have very organized lists with what we were getting for each person and then lists of the stores we wanted to go to and in what order and what was on sale there and what we were looking for there. We would head to Austin about 8am and get back home sometimes as late as midnight (Austin was an hour away). We were totally exhausted but we got it all done in one day. It was so fun and now, after many, many trips out shopping--I really like the idea of just going one day and getting it done. Of course, that was in the days before on-line shopping. The Sears catalog is what the kids would pour over and circle what they wanted.


I must admit I am looking forward to being at home for awhile. I have been away from home in MF for so long. We were at the ranch from end of September until we were called to San Diego fires on October 23 and from there we went to New York then back home only two days before Thanksgiving when we left again for Leander then back home for one day to pack up for coming here with Jenny. So technically I have not been home for three months. We will go home the day after Christmas and on Friday three of my children and their families will arrive and stay through New Years. I admit I am a bit panicked about this as I really like to be all organized and the house all clean and food prepared before guests arrive. And there is no way that is happening this time. I have so much stuff here at Jenny’s and we picked up Gina at college and have all her stuff here and then add all the Christmas new stuff……….It just overwhelms me to think about it all. At least there are no Christmas decorations at home to be put away. I brought most of them to Jenny’s so she will get to do that part. But all this is okay. It will all work out and I try to remind myself that 10 minutes after the grandchildren arrive the house will be cluttered with toys and games and stuff anyway so what does it matter. It will be a crazy wonderful time and I am looking forward to seeing everyone.

Well, the house is waking up so my quiet blogging time is ending. Just wanted to post something to let it be known I am still around--just busy--and my mind so cluttered that the thoughts just won’t flow. By bedtime when the house is quiet and I should have the time to write--or even read blogs--I am just too tired and want to go to bed. I have really missed all the blogs and the connection to everyone. Maybe after the holidays when life returns to normal my thoughts will begin to flow again. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Adventures in Babysitting

I am into my second week now and thought I was getting the hang of this. Then today I had the bright idea of taking the boys to the library and park. My first venture away from home with both boys by myself. So Jenny and I switched cars so I would have all the car seats, etc. Story hour was at 10---we began the process of getting ready to leave and loaded into car at 9:30 but barely made it to library by 10. I forgot how hard it is to get it all together with two kids and actually out the door.....And to top it off when we got to library I realized I had left the full baby bottle warming in the sink. Then we get in the library only to find out they are not having story hour in December. How stupid (sorry, Mason doesn't allow me to say stupid)--how ridiculous is that---no Christmas stories????? We were disappointed but had fun picking out some books anyway. I love looking through all the Easy Readers remembering the days of reading the same books to my kids. (I raised 7+ kids--I am not new to this mothering thing) So picked out a few of my favorites and headed for the checkout. That is when Grant decided he was very unhappy and NOTHING would quiet him--not the pacifier, or Mason, or rocking him, or anything. It seemed like the lady took forever to check us out and he was howling like a banchee. Mason was holding the door open for me to make a quick escape. We had forgotten to bring in the book bag so Mason was trying to hold all our books and open the door, too, so of course, the books slid out of his hands into a big pile right in the middle of the doorway. I sat Grant down in his carrier and piled a stack of books on top of him while Mason grabbed the rest and we finally got to the car. As soon as I got Grant loaded and car turned on he stopped crying and fell asleep.
But I had promised the park to Mason so we went down the street to the park. I was not going to wake Grant (my mothering rule is you never waken a sleeping child) so I let him sleep while I stood outside the car where I could keep an eye on Mason playing. After 10 minutes Grant was awake and crying again so I took him out of car seat--grabbed the bottle I had brought that had less than 2 ounces left in it (the new full one being back home in the sink, remember) and we headed for a bench. It was a gorgeous sunny day but with a steady good cold wind and Grant does not care too much for wind. But in the sun it was nice and if I stood and held him with me blocking the wind he was happy for a bit. We sat in the swing and I fed him the bottle and Mason played. We had the park to ourselves except for the occasional adult walker. No other kids there. Mason had fun and entertained himself very well. We stuck it out for about 30 minutes til Grant had had enough and I bribed Mason to leave with the promise of popcorn chicken from Sonic.
I had never exactly tried to find my way to Sonic from this park so I temporarily lost my presence of mind and followed Mason's directions. Mason is 4. Need I say more. Had we turned left on College Hills Dr. we would have quickly found Sonic. But we turned right and took the long scenic route. But we got there. Thankfully, the service was quick and we were back home before Grant went off again. As we were sitting at the table eating, Mason says, "Isn't it good to just be back home, Gema?" Amen, Mason, amen