Abbeygrape "Hangin' Out" On the Vine

Fast Forward to 2012

2012-02-19T19:55:00.002-06:00

Wow, time has certainly flown. So much has happened over the past few years. More news to follow...

The Abbeygrape Manifesto

2007-06-15T21:25:00.000-05:00

I originally wrote this manifesto in June 2004, but it is like my theme song, so I am trying to keep it near the front of the Abbeygrape blog.

Most people tiptoe through life so as to arrive at death safely --Tony Campolo, "Carpe Diem"

An acceptable level of risk -- This is generally determined by what is prepared to be lost balanced against possible gains. When we define risk as exposure to the chance of loss, we see that risk is unavoidable. Everything we do carries some risk, even doing nothing. But, if you do not take on enough risk, you will never know where your boundaries are. Risk helps define your boundaries of safety and comfort. You must be an equilibrist to balance safety and comfort with an acceptable level of risk. Risk is an inevitable part of life. It can never be eliminated but winners know when to take it and how...not with their eyes closed but with their eyes wide open.

The acceptable level of risk is likely to vary over time, from day to day and moment to moment, and differs from person to person based on experience and self-confidence. As a child, when we began to walk and run, there was an acceptable level of risk associated with learning, and we probably had bumps and bruises to show until we had experience and self-confidence. As adults, we get so settled in routine that we take the path of least resistance, not daring to take risks for fear of bruising our self-esteem or egos. Yet it is with taking risks that the potential rewards are highest, and you are richer for daring to explore the unexplored facets of your life.

SO, dare to march to the beat of a different drummer. Dare to look for ways every day to reach out to the people around you, to extend kindness to strangers when it was not expected, and to see things that unify us with nature, with each other, and with life itself. Dare to listen to the music of nature and the secrets that the birds have to tell because you will discover the secrets of your own soul. Dare to interact with children so that you can see the world through their eyes and gain hope through their innocence. Dare to sing to the frogs in Tuvan so that your words can be made clear in the cover of darkness. Dare to listen to and explore all types of music so that you may understand the rhymes and rhythms that others may carry in their head. Dare to read the Great Classics of Literature because of the lessons to be learned from the voices of experience. Dare to fall in love because through love you understand the language (spoken and unspoken) of the heart. Dare to exercise your body to relieve stress and build your endurance. Dare to play sports so that you understand teamwork and how the efforts of individual players combine for the greater good of the team. Dare to learn how to be ambidextrous in some things, so that true equilibrium can be achieved. Dare to appreciate Young's Double Chocolate Stout, enhance your root beer with Crown Royal, splash Tabasco sauce on your eggs, savor an alligator sandwich, relish chocolate-covered jalapenos, feast on french-fried sweet potatoes, glory in ice cream topped with the taste of the rainbow, flavor your Coca-Cola with chocolate syrup, delight in chocolate-covered roast coffee beans because diversity in taste feeds your curiosity for the new and different. Dare to learn new languages so that you may experience the voice of the world. Dare to watch movies because they reflect culture of a moment frozen in time and help you remember your moments frozen in time. Dare to swim in the ocean and feel the sand in between your toes because true freedom can be found in this place in the sun and waves. Dare to float down rivers in canoes and rafts so that you may experience the true currents and unpredictable undercurrents of the waters. Dare to play trombone like the greats, but also dare to be yourself so that you can discover your true borders. Dare to be a sports spectator so that you might understand the feelings and motivations of athletes. Dare to be creative because in being creative you understand more about the things you care about and your true feelings toward the world. Dare to write your own thoughts and compose your own music, because after you're gone, only your writings and music remain. Dare to dream. And dare to make a few mistakes along the way, because it is through mistakes that we learn our great lessons in life.
--Janna Luebkemann Scearce

It seems to me that people have vast potential. Most people can do extraordinary things if they have the confidence or take the risks. Yet most people don't. They sit in front of the telly and treat life as if it goes on forever.--Phillip Adams

You lively up yourself, and don't be no drag.--Bob Marley

It is not the mountain that we conquer, but ourselves.--Edmund Hillary

Be happy, but never satisfied.--Bruce Lee

If we listened to our intellect, we'd never have a love affair. We'd never have a friendship. We'd never go into business, because we'd be cynical. Well, that's nonsense. You've got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down.--Ray Bradbury

Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising each and every time we fail.--Confucius

My mother said to me, "If you are a soldier, you will become a general. If you are a monk, you will become the Pope." Instead, I was a painter, and became Picasso.--Pablo Picasso

Those that danced were thought mad by those who could not hear the music.--George Carlin, from his book Brain Droppings

What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?--Dr. Robert Schuller

I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious Ambiguity.--Gilda Radner

Our suicidal poets (Plath, Berryman, Lowell, Jarrell, et al.) spent too much of their lives inside rooms and classrooms when they should have been trudging up mountains, slogging through swamps, rowing down rivers. The indoor life is the next best thing to premature burial.--Edward Abbey, In Literature

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.--Albert Einstein

That Truth is only another name for the positive state, or that the quest for Truth, is the attempt to achieve positiveness.--Charles Fort

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.--Marcel Proust

If you're not living on the edge, then you are taking up too much space.--Native American saying

It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.--Charles Darwin

I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I intended to be.--Douglas Adams

June Already?

2007-06-03T02:18:00.000-05:00

Wow! I cannot believe that it is June already! This year has passed by so fast. So many things have happened since my last post. My nephew Steven graduated from high school on May 15. I'm giving a Con"grad" ulations shout out to him. I drove to Pine Bluff, Arkansas to watch him pick up his diploma. He has a full four-year scholarship to Arkansas Tech University, where he will be majoring in secondary education. Good Luck with that! I know you'll make your auntie proud!

We're still working on the house, and have made quite a bit of progress on it. The floors have all been jacked up now with new floor joists added as necessary. The bathroom was remodeled in February. We put in a huge Jacuzzi and painted the panelling so that all walls and doors are white with a black trim. It has a movie star theme with matching shower curtain and accessories. I also have framed prints of Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Shirley Temple, Judy Garland, Humphrey Bogart, and Ingrid Bergman on the walls. I kept the pink toilet and added a black seat to go along with spirit of the black trim. We are also adding a black marble tile floor. I think that Miss Odessa would be proud of our bathroom.

Now we are working on the master bedroom. We are painting the walls lilac and installing a new carpet in lavendar. Our new bedroom furniture is a great selection from Ashley Furniture. We selected a sleigh bed with matching armoire, dresser, chest of drawers, and matching trunk. We are looking forward to our new bedroom and hope to have it finished by the end of the summer.

It's been a lot of hard work and we are very proud of what we have been able to accomplish. We will be recarpeting the living room, dining room, and main hallway of our house also. Then we can move on to the kitchen, where we will be installing a new stove and countertops. We also will be putting down a new ceramic tile floor in the patio room. That's our goal for the next few months. We've enjoyed making this old house into a house that we can be proud of for a long time to come.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

2007-01-05T20:53:00.000-06:00

Well, Christmas time has come and gone. I decorated nine trees this year, and the banquet was wonderful. We had 34 people as guests during Christmas Eve.

I still have my decorations up because we are going to reorganize the attic where our Christmas decorations will be stored. There are a lot of items up there that need to be discarded, and I am going to do that before any Christmas decorations make it back upstairs.

I hope that everyone is having a fantastic New Year!

Wishing all a Happy 2007!

Barbara

2006-11-01T20:51:00.000-06:00

Our nephew Bubba's wife Barbara was killed in a car wreck about a month ago. The whole thing was tragic. On Friday, her Ford Focus was in our auto garage having a heater replaced. The mechanics had not completed the job at quitting time, so they stayed late and left the car out so that Bubba & Barbara could pick it up later that night.

Marvin drove her home and she showed him all that they had done with the house since they bought it. He brought home a pizza and we watched the World Series. Somewhere along the 7th inning, my cellphone rang. It was Marvin's brother Ronnie telling us that Barbara had been killed in a car wreck.

Everyone has been trying to deal with the loss of this sweet person. Barbara was one of the true sincere people in this world. I feel lucky to have known her for the short time I did.

House Update

2006-10-11T22:34:00.000-05:00

My house. I have really just recently felt comfortable with calling it my house. Under normal situations, when most people move into a house, the previous occupants have vacated the premises. We have had to put most of our belongings in the swimming pool area while waiting on Marvin and his siblings to divide the contents as were his mother's intention in her will.

Marvin's mom was from the "old school" when it came to conserving your resources. She never threw anything away, and I emphasize the word "anything." Even if it was broken, she still kept it. No waste in that house! Keeping everything leads to having a lot of clutter. I guess we're all guilty of hoarding our belongings. I still have the stuffed rabbit from my first Easter ever. My name "Janna Rose" is barely legible on its ragged ear.

Due to the sheer volume of items in the house, we had to move Miss Odessa out in stages. We started out with dividing big furniture and the appliances room first. A few months later, we divided her Christmas nick-nacks. This summer, we worked our way through the Tupperware room, a room that is full of wall shelves and a long counter holding Tupperware and all of her serving dishes. Our church had a yard sale last weekend, and we donated boxes of items that we no longer needed. I figure that we are halfway through unpacking now.

I can finally start moving my things where they need to be in the house. I have a large collection of books, and they will go into the Tupperware room. This will be my room for books, writing, painting, and arts & crafts. Marvin gets the utility room next to it for his workshop area. He's going to move everything out and organize it to his liking.

I have this vision of one day having everything in its place. We have a deadline of Christmas Eve, the evening of our banquet. I think that it's doable. Yes I do.

Noah Bryant

2006-10-11T21:03:00.000-05:00

Last Saturday, Marvin and I met Jonathan and family for dinner at Applebee's. Noah finally has made his first trip to West Tennessee. He is four months old now, and is a very sweet baby. We received a photo frame card for Grandparent's Day, and he already looks like he will take after his dad, always "up to something." The look on his face was just precious! Jonathan sent me a cute pix message about a week ago too. Noah was lying in his crib giggling. Can't tell that I'm a proud grand' ma, could you?

As I've always said before, a step grandchild is special to me because the love I have for him comes straight from my heart, and that is always special.

Closing The Door

2006-09-25T09:31:00.000-05:00

A few months ago, I did something that was extremely hard for me to do. I began a search for a new job. I love my co-workers like family, and have many fond memories of my life with ECS, but the second-hand smoke really took a toll on my health. I am not a smoker, yet I wheezed constantly, and my allergy medicine stopped working.

I am now working at West Tennessee Communications, where I still sell Verizon cellular service, and have started branching out into selling Motorola two-way radios. We ship radios all over the U.S. I even have some customers in my hometown of Stuttgart, Arkansas.

I hated closing the door at ECS, but there are no regrets. I feel healthier and my wheezing has completely stopped. I have started a regimen of antioxidants that is cleansing my system. I have noticed that my sense of smell has returned and food even tastes good once again.

I miss seeing my friends every day, but we still keep in touch through email and by phone. But, taking care of Janna is my priority. You gotta take care of yourself, because no one else is gonna do it! By closing the door on an unhealthy lifestyle, I have opened the door to more opportunities in my search for wealth, health, and happiness. No regrets here...

Linking Back to the Past Few Months

2006-09-25T08:09:00.000-05:00

Wow! I cannot believe that time has flown as quickly as it has! I have been busy living life and let this blog fall way behind. A lot of cool things have been happening over the past few months, so I will do my best to bring things up to date as soon as I can.

Back to the Bowflex

2006-05-22T14:18:00.000-05:00

This weekend we put out Bowflex back together and have gotten back into the Bowflex swing of things. It's a set of rods and pulleys. Right now I can only do about 35 lb. comfortably, but hope to raise the weight soon. I remember back when we got the Bowflex over a year ago, I was so weak that even on the very lowest setting, I was not able to budge the weight. The exercises I have chosen to start with are concentrating mainly on the abs and shoulders. Bowflex is so intense that you only have to work out for 20 minutes a day/ 3 days a week. They claim that you will start seeing results in six weeks. So, I am supposed to be meaner and leaner by July 4th.

I may not look like the woman in the commercial by then, but at least it's a start!

OMG! Bob's 60!

2006-05-10T21:36:00.000-05:00

Bob Mayfield is my boss, and OMG! he's 60 today! Happy Birthday, Old Man!

The first time I met Bob, was in May 1994, and I was employed at Radio Shack in Dyersburg. I was opening the store that morning, and Bob, Larry, and Eddie came by early. Since Radio Shack security regulations do not allow employees to open the store early, they sat patiently while I completed my opening rituals. I got Bob's card that day, and did send him some computer referrals a few months later.

Our paths did not cross again until about three years later, when ECS was expanding their storefront and I was hired as a temp to fill a clerical position. Now it's nine-something years later and I'm still there selling Verizon cellphones, internet accounts, and computer accessories.

Bob has been one of the better bosses I've had in this lifetime. He is usually very supportive of our sales efforts and running interference for us with difficult customers.

Bob, I wish you the best as you begin the next 60 years of your life...Happy Birthday!

USS Lexington & Texas Aquarium Day

2006-05-08T18:36:00.000-05:00

When we got up today, we decided to do some more sightseeing. Our destination: the USS Lexington and the Texas Aquarium, conveniently located down the bay from our hotel. There was this really great beach that we found near there too, only a day too late for us to visit. Oh well, there's always next trip.

The USS Lexington was a very awesome ship, approximately 100,000 square feet. it took a few hours to take the entire tour. I have a whole new respect for those Navy sailors who had to climb up and down all those ladders. My legs are killing me after all that climbing we had to do. There is a non-working escalator on board, so I even had to walk down it. The only good thing was that gravity was nicer to me with the escalator. The angle of descent wasn't nearly as steep.

This tour took us all over the ship, and was more detailed than other battleships I have toured. You got to see the quarters of all of the enlisted men and officers. What they call home is very modest compared to what most of us call home. This ship was also an aircraft carrier, and they had quite a few plane types on deck for your viewing pleasure. You could even go all the way up to the main control deck and see what the captains who pilot the boat have to work with. There were map rooms and radio control rooms. So much to look at.and be thankful that these guys are looking out for us, the US.

The Texas Aquarium was very well put together. It has one of the best saltwater habitats that I have ever seen. They also had a great Amazon exhibit complete with parrots, spiders, and other creatures that go "bump" in the night in the Amazon rainforest.

We also got to view a dolphin training session. Those dolphins were very smart, possibly smarter than a lot of humans I know.

These attractions were within a block of each other and I recommend them highly. A fun time was had by all.

Bowling...Corpus Christi style

2006-05-08T02:39:00.000-05:00

Sunday was devoted to bowling and preparing for the night's bowling. Marvin is team captain and was registering his team at bowling headquarters when Ray, the other team captain, contacted him because he needed a bowler for his team. I made the mistake of bringing my USBC card and bowling ball, so I was drafted by the other team to bowl with them on the 8:30pm squad. My average is 100, so I was able to help them out with a warm body so that the team could bowl. I got my average, mainly because I was plagued with a series of splits that I couldn't seem to shake off.

It was fun, and I did get a cool bowling shirt out of the deal. My newest resolution is to work on my game so that I improve my average.

A Drink of Another Flavour

2006-05-08T02:03:00.000-05:00

We stopped at Burger King around 1am after a late night of bowling. While there I decided to concoct a drink of my own choice. I filled the cup half full of Sprite then added a fourth cup of Hi-C Orange and a fourth cup of Minutemaid Lemonade. When asked what I was going to call it, I didn't have a clue. In my childhood, we called such drinks a "suicide." Some possible suggestions are JannSprLemOrange or SprLemOrange for short. A drink of a different flavour sure went down swell with that late night chicken sandwich & fries.

Saturday at Padre Island

2006-05-06T23:46:00.000-05:00

Strictly adhering to a "no alarm" policy, we woke up around 9 and dressed for an afternoon at the beach. After a quick breakfast at Denny's, we headed to Padre Island and the National Coastline. The terrain was mostly marshes, mudlands, and sand dunes, lots different from the ocean you see in the Florida panhandle.

We landed at the Visitors Center near Malaquite Beach (North Padre island) and lay in the sand, watched the waves, and waded in the water. The seagulls were out, flying over the dunes and watching for the unwary picnickers who might give up their food.

It was raining when we first got there. You could see fog in the distance. Then the sun came out and the horizon was in sight. The water was cloudy and warm. The marsh grass on the shore washed into the ocean. High tide was at 1:12pm, so we were there to witness it.

We stopped at a shop and bought souvenirs and then drove back to Corpus Christi. After a short nap, we went over to Landry's for seafood. Landry's had a very international flavor to it, as there were people from other countries there. It was cool to listen to them speak their native language amongst themselves and then address the waiter in English.

After Landry's, we had the distinct pleasure of watching one of the Buc Days parades. Corpus Christi has a spring tradition that originates back in pirate times, me mateys. Capt. Jean Lafitte had his headquarters in Corpus Christi. He was eventually acquitted of his crimes when he helped the city during the Civil War. In early April, a group of Buccaneers visit the Mayor of Corpus Christi's office and declare that Buc Days begin. Bucs take over the city and they have all sorts of Founders Days festivities and carnivals that last through the end of May.

Even though Corpus Christi is a big city, everyone here seems to be nice and friendly. As we continue to explore it, I find things that would make me want to revisit sometime in the future.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

2006-05-05T22:50:00.000-05:00

This year's Cinco de Mayo was a happy celebration in San Antonio. We woke up late and ate a quick continental breakfast at the hotel. Then it was time to explore San Antonio.

We headed downtown for the "not quite a trolley" bus tour, aptly named because the trolley was down for maintenence and they were using a bus instead that day. We got a general tour of the city and learned some of the city's history from our driver.

The first stop was at Concepcion Mission, one of the four main missions that the Spaniards set up in Texas. Then we went to El Mercado, a group of fifty shops specializing in Mexican clothing and arts & crafts. I wound up with a pink cowboy hat as we bought souvenirs. We ate a quick lunch at one of the Mexian restaurants and then headed outside to listen to the Mexican music and the Cinco de Mayo booths that were set up outside. There was this very talented duo on wind flutes and guitar. I put some money in the guitar case that they had set in front of them as they played. We looked at our watches and found that we had to quickly make it across the street to meet our bus.

Whew! We made it back just in time. We passed by La Villita, an historic arts village. It looked interesting, but we were pressed for time. Maybe we can spend more time next trip. The bus dropped us off at the last stop, The Alamo. I think that every school kid in Texas must have been out of school and on a tour of The Alamo that day. It was a very impressive place. We first visited the Shrine. It had some Davy Crockett artifacts and also a memorial plaque to the fallen in the Battle of The Alamo. I was surprised at how many different countries had been represented. In the Shrine, there was a guest book to sign. When it was my turn, I found out that the pen used to sign the hallowed guest book was out of ink. I took out my own pen and dated it Cinco de Mayo, 2006 and signed Marvin and me in. I left my pen there, my contribution to the Great State of Texas. We walked around the grounds and saw the barracks and living quarters, and saw a movie about the Battle of Alamo. Then we left and started on our way to Corpus Christi.

San Antonio is a great town full of history. I hope to visit there again when I have more time to spend.

Vacation...Finally!

2006-05-04T19:44:00.000-05:00

Vacation time has finally made it's way around the bend again. Marvin and I are headed for Corpus Christi, TX. We are driving this year, and I am writing this blog on my Palm Treo en route. We had a lot of rain in our drive through Tennesse, and the rain finally stopped by the time we hit Little Rock, AR.

We finally arrived in San Antonio about dark. Then it took a while to find a hotel that was satisfactory. When you first get into town, there are a lot of warehouse and factory districts. We got off at this one exit, but then I noticed that most of the cars had their windows tinted, and the neighborhood looked seedy. So, back onto the expressway until we saw signs of houses, schools, and churches. Then we felt like we were in a safe neighborhood, and got settled in at a Days Inn.

I was up packing our suitcases late the night before, so it was time to catch up on some shuteye and let my body adjust to the fact of not having to be at work. I feel like I'm loafing, but it won't take long for me to adjust to being on vacation time. First Rule of Vacation: No alarm clocks are allowed.

Anniversary Time...Again!

2006-04-26T22:58:00.000-05:00

Today is our 10th wedding anniversary. Gosh, we have just sort of chugged along, and here we are. I can remember the misadventures of that day 10 years ago. It was on a Friday, and I took the day off from work for the last minute preparations. On his way out the door to head to work, Marvin casually mentions that "Oh, yeah, by the way, my suit pants need to be taken out three inches. And while you're out today, see if you can find me one of those button extenders for my dress shirt" That totally struck terror in my heart. So, before I could do anything, I had to run to Dyersburg and find a cleaners that could do rush jobs. Thank God for Paul's Cleaners! They had a seamstress in-house that was able to do the alterations requested. I was able to take them there, and Marvin would pick them up later that afternoon.

Then my sister Carol and nephew Steven had ridden with me to my hairstylist appointment. I was in a big hurry to find the button extender, and they were nowhere to be found when my hair was ready. So, I drove over to Dyersburg Mall and found the button extender at Peebles. By the time I got back to the mall where I had left them, they were outside and pretty freaked out about being in a town they didn't know without a ride. But, as I told them, we had stuff to do and I didn't have time to be looking for them all over the place. It all worked out though.

My next major heart attack happened that afternoon when I drove over to Wal-Mart to pick up the cake that my friend (and matron of honor) Cindy Kerby decorated. I was driving our Dodge Caravan and our Chocolate Lab was in the back. It was just a short trip, but the van overheated when I was about 2 miles away from the church. I had my bag phone with me and called Marvin to rescue me. He told me to add some water to the radiator and just drive it slow over there. For Lady Leadfoot that was a real challenge! Anyway, he met me at the church and made sure that all was okay.

Then it was back to the house where we got our clothes and headed back to the church to get dressed. He got ready on one side of the church and I got ready on the other side of the church. He brought his handheld Yahtzee game and was playing it while waiting, because I could hear it through the vents. I made sure that everything was ready, punch and cake and etc. while simultaneously putting on my makeup and white dress and shoes. I had this garter that played "Here Comes the Bride." Pretty cheesy, but fun.

We heard people coming in and then piano music as Aunt Barbara began her repetoire of songs. Of course, I was able to work in a Beatles song that she played after the ceremony was over, "In My Life." The song that the groom walked out on was "The Love Theme from The Godfather." When I heard that song, I walked around to the front of the church and got ready for the bride's usual theme song. John Fred gave me away, and of course I shed a few tears when he suggested that Dad & Mom were probably looking down on us from Heaven.

I didn't realize it, but I was extremely nervous during the whole ceremony. As the wedding videos attest, I blinked the entire time I was doing the vows. Note to self, don't wear contacts during your wedding. I'll try to remember that in my next life. Another funny thing that happened was that my friend who was doing the wedding videos did was try to interview people. But, she had the "Record" button mixed up. She would walk up to people and record "Do you have anything to say to the bride & groom?" and then accidentally turn the recorder off, mixing things up every time. So you see the people standing there, and after her question, they disappeared until the next person was asked the question. Wonder if I can win $10,000 on America's Funniest Videos for that tape?

Anyway, somehow we muddled through and even made it to the train station on time to have a honeymoon in New Orleans. It was at the same time as the New Orleans Jazzfest and a fun time was had by all. I even still have the champagne bottle to prove it!

Missouri Skies Photo Gallery

2006-04-13T17:46:00.000-05:00

Here's a beautiful website to check out. There are also photos of beautiful sunsets as well as tornadoes of past years. Plan on seeing lots of beautiful scenery.

http://www.missouriskies.org/

Tornado FAQ

2006-04-10T13:19:00.000-05:00

This website has some very cool information on tornadoes. Anything you would like to know, including how to become a storm spotter can be found in the FAQS listed. Excellent work by Roger Edwards of the Storm Prediction Center.

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/faq/tornado/#spotter1

Dyer Emergency

2006-04-07T21:58:00.000-05:00

Wow! This entire week has been extremely tough for everyone around here. On Sunday night, three F-3 tornadoes arrived in our area, mainly striking Dyer County, TN and Pemiscot County, MO. The death toll for Tennessee is 24 , the biggest tragedy ever for this area. I have been astounded with the survivor stories that I have heard. I've lost friends, friends have lost everything, so many tragic stories.

At our house in Halls (Lauderdale County), the lights went out for a few minutes. In the other areas it wasn't even raining, so quite a few people disregarded the weather report and tornado sirens. That was a common factor in a lot of the retelling of the events surrounding this sad event. One man just barely had time to hop into a bathtub at his house before a tornado went behind it. Entire house trailers just evaporated into thin air. Some of my friend's son's belonging were found in Rutherford, TN, about 50 miles away. One family, dubbed the "Miracle 6" survived in a basement bathroom of a house that only had cinder blocks standing. Another young family (father, boy 3, girl 5, and 6 months pregnant wife) crowded into a broom closet. The children's beds and boxsprings were swept out of the window, and two barns tore completely apart. Most people report hearing a train noise and some sort of whooshing sound against their house, maybe a little bit of backdraft from the tornado. That's an interesting question...do tornadoes have backdrafts? I guess I need to ask our resident meterorologist that one.

Some elderly people were killed. One woman tearfully reported that she tried to call this friend to warn her, but got no answer. She later found out that her friend's house had been hit and her body found underneath a pile of rubble. One woman's body was found quickly, but only because she died with a flashlight in her hand.

The funeral homes were full, and a temporary morgue had to be set up at Dyersburg Regional Medical Center. I was told that one of the small funeral homes had 10 bodies there all at once. Funerals are even being held at night, something that I have never heard of before.

My friends at Dyersburg Avionics of Caruthersville, MO had quite a bit of damage to the Caruthersville Airport. They have some pictures of damage to the airplanes on their website:

www.dyersburgavionics.com

Another great source for photos is from the National Weather Service website:

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/meg/events/April2006/index.htm

One other website that has actual video footage is a TV station in Missouri website:

www.kfvs12.com

It will take a while for our area to recover, but the teamwork in rebuilding has been phenomenal. A barbeque team from Huish Detergents (manufacturer of Sun Detergents) raised over $15,000 in two days, and Huish Detergents matched the $15,000. The barbeque team ran out of food, and people still stood in line to donate money to the Red Cross. That's the awesome spirit of our Dyer County people.

These tornadoes have not happened to just the Newbern and surrounding areas. They have happened to all of us. Everything is connected. The Katrina disaster of last fall has actually made the work related to our newest tornado disaster just a little easier in some ways. People know how to react and understand that it is in giving from the heart that eases the pain of our hurts.

As a side note, 10 tornadoes also struck the Nashville area this afternoon, one flying over Jonathan and Keri's house. They are fine, but a cousin was killed in these storms when a building he was working on collapsed in the storms. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his young family.

Daylight Saving Time

2006-03-29T13:25:00.000-06:00

This weekend brings around one of the most confusing times of the year for me: Daylight Saving Time. My body is mostly on Standard Time, so I don't function well in the mornings until the time changes back (and I get my extra hour's sleep again!) in October. I researched Daylight Saving Time on the internet, and found this most informative website: http://webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/. It has the entire history and purposes of Daylight Saving Time on the site. Traditionally, times always change on the first weekend in April and the last weekend in October. Something I did not realize is that George W. Bush has managed to screw this up too.

How many people know that on August 8, 2005, President George W. Bush signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005? This Act will changed U.S. time change dates for Daylight Saving Time beginning in 2007. The U.S. will be on an even wackier schedule at that time, with Daylight Saving Time beginning on the second Sunday of March and ending the first Sunday of November. Congress has a right to revert the Daylight Saving Time back to the 2005 traditional Daylight Saving Time after the Department of Energy has had time to study the effects of this change.

So, it sounds like more of the same lingo we've been getting from GW lately. Does this mean that it will also be up to a "future President" to change our time back to the right time AND bring back our soldiers from Iraq?

Bowling Balls

2006-03-23T13:28:00.000-06:00

Marvin and I are finishing up the bowling season at hand. Last night was the first of several banquets that will be attended over the next month. We even took some money home. I won first place in high game handicap (290) and came in 22nd in our year-end tournament, winning $65. Marvin really racked up. He came in second place with high game handicap (289) and came in fourth in our year-end tournament, winning $140. That's the most that we've ever won during our bowling seasons together.

I will also be attending the women's bowling association (of which I'm president) banquet and the Thursday night/men's bowling association (of which Marvin is president) banquet in the next few weeks. This year is the final year that both associations will have separate banquets. As of May 1, the associations are merging and we will have an entirely different set of individuals in officer positions. Both of us have decided to step down and give someone else their chance to shine and develop their talents. I've always said that an organization is only as good as its members. Presidents come and go, but a strong membership keeps the balls rolling.

Spring Changes

2006-03-23T12:58:00.000-06:00

Living as close to the Mississippi River as we do, the saying around here is: "If you don't like the weather, wait five minutes and it'll change." Last week, we had beautiful sunshiney days with highs in the 70s. This week we're back to highs in the 50s and lows in the 30s. Brrrrrabbits! I know that it is all part of our spring weather though. It will all settle down by May and the temperatures will be warmer. For right now though, it's warm jackets for me!

Aislin Ruth or Noah Bryant?

2006-03-13T20:54:00.000-06:00

The question of baby names for Jonathan and Keri's child was solved back at the end of January. The ultrasound indicated that the baby would be a boy. So, we will welcome Noah Bryant into the world sometime this June. Everyone is busy making preparations for the big event, buying clothes, furniture, and other things to mark the occasion of his birth.

They have picked some very cool names. Aislin was rated one of the top cool girl baby names of 2005. It has Irish origins, meaning Vision. Noah has also been a top cool boy baby name, and of course has Hebrew/Biblical origins, meaning To Comfort.

Moving Days

2006-03-08T22:55:00.000-06:00

I know it seems like this blog has been moving slower than a spotted leopard slug lately, but I've been busy moving out of our other house and prepping it for sale. On the first week of January, Marvin and I received a surprise from our nephew Bubba and his wife Barbara: They wanted to buy our house. I went straight into moving mode, and even took a week and half's vacation because we had a lot of stuff to move. Then I caught this flu bug that has lasted over a month. I've been mainly going to work and sleeping when not at work. And yes, I ADMIT IT! MY CHRISTMAS TREES ARE STILL UP! There, I've said it! I plan to get a lot of it put away this weekend.

For months I've wanted to have all of my things in the same place. Now that it's all in the same place, I realize that I'm even more unorganized than even I will admit. But then again, I guess I just did...

I will miss our two-story cypress home and its very cool spiral staircase. The house out at the Smith Farm will be a challenge and a lot of hard work, but I'm hoping to turn it into a home that is just as cool.

Going Home

2006-01-10T22:52:00.000-06:00

Today was a very bittersweet time for me. I drove back to Arkansas for Uncle Lester's funeral. He was 89, and had never really recovered from breaking his hip a few weeks ago. My cousin Joe stayed with him in the hospital and through the rehab process. The hospital sent him home Friday and he died surrounded by his family Saturday night. He was truly the patriarch of his family, something that is missing in so many families in these modern times. In visiting with them afterwards, I felt their closeness and saw the stability that comes from having such a great family role model. My uncle and aunt had been married for 57 years. He was a quiet man who fully supported his family in whatever they were doing.

The drive over gave me time to reflect on the past. Someone wise once told me that you can always go back to your hometown, but it will never be the same place you left. As time goes on, I find this to be true.

Marvin's Birthday

2006-01-08T23:38:00.000-06:00

On New Year's Day, we also had an early celebration of Marvin's birthday. His birthday is January 2nd. Jonathan and Keri drove over from Nashville, and Jason, Beth, Garrett, and Hannah also joined us. At first we thought about driving over to Tiptonville and eating fish at one of the restaurants near Reelfoot Lake, but then we decided to go to Ryan's Steakhouse in Dyersburg instead. They were serving cabbage, blackeyed peas, and hog jowls as pat of their New Year's Day menu, so we didn't have to worry about eating any later in the day. We all had a nice visit. Keri and Jonathan are expecting our newest grandchild next June. We still don't know whether it will be a boy or girl. As long as she or he is healthy, it doesn't matter to us.

After eating, Jonathan and Keri came back over to the house and visited with us for a while before driving back. We watched television and wound up dozing some, mainly because Marvin and I had been out until 2am the night before at a New Year's Eve bowling party. Marvin was the designated driver and I was the designated drinker. I concocted my own original drink. I mixed Diet Rite Strawberry Kiwi with vodka (practically no calories!) and added fruit flavored Italian ice. This drink was so popular that I had people asking me to mix them one too. I had brought plenty of Diet Rite with me, so I was happy to share.

Marvin got some Henley sweaters for his birthday, a "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" DVD and a card shuffler. We watched "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" that night. It is a very action-packed movie, and we enjoyed it very much. w loud recommend it highly to anyone who likes a lot of adventure. There was a lot of chemistry between Brad and Angelina, so I can see how this would have caused problems for Brad's marriage. The romance behind the movie may have started out as just a publicity stunt, but so far seems to have turned into the "real deal" for the moment for our heroes.

Birthdays are always more special when your loved ones can help you celebrate. We are always glad when we can get the entire family together. Our little family is growing. I can remember when we could all go out and eat and only take one vehicle. This time around it took three vehicles to get us all there. We are so proud of our sons and their families.

Happy New Years!

2006-01-04T19:53:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year's Everybody! We made it through all the Christmas festivities just great. My brother John & girlfriend Kimberly flew in from Charlotte, NC, and boy howdy! were their arms ever tired. Seriously though, we had a very nice visit. We picked them up from the airport in Memphis on Dec. 23rd and drove them back over on Dec. 26th. They got to experience a "Scearce Christmas" firsthand. John has been around for Christmas with us before, but it was Kimberly's first time here. It was a total first for all of us to celebrate Christmas with Miss Odessa not here. The celebration was nice, and she would have been proud of our efforts.

One final touch to the festive decorations came about as sort of a surprise. Last year, my daughter-in-law Beth and I had discussed with Miss Odessa the possibility of decorating the swimming pool with floating candles this next year. Beth remembered our conversation and found some silver floating decorator balls and quite a few floating candles. We lit them up just as our banquet was beginning. They dispersed quite nicely, so everyone had a beautiful view of the candles peacefully floating on top of the water. It was a nice touch, and topped off the evening wonderfully.

The biggest change though in the whole evening was that Marvin and I were now the hosts who sat at the head of the table, and all of these friends and relatives were our guests. We made it through the transition fine, but not without shedding a few tears regarding past memories. These celebrations have been videotaped for years, and as we dined, there was a television in the background playing a tape from the 1983 celebration. Everyone had changed, but still remained a little of the same.

We got to enjoy the company of our little granddaughter, Hannah Daisy, now seven months old. She was the center of attention (and not spoiled a bit!). She smiled and posed for her photos like a champ. We also enjoyed having Beth and Jason there too, of course. Garrett was at his dad's on Christmas Eve, but we got to open gifts with him a couple of days later.

We start out our banquet with a little friendly ice-breaker game. Everyone writes their name on this card and sticks it in a fishbowl. Marvin draws the first name. That person sits down and draws the name of another person who sits down until there is only one person left standing. That person wins a door prize. This year, my brother John won the door prize, a $25 gift card from Wal-Mart. Dinner was delicious. Marvin and I provided turkey, roast beef, ham, rolls, and boiled custard (Miss Odessa's recipe), and everyone else brought more dessert and vegetables to complement the meats. Marvin's sister Jeannie always does a great job with her deviled eggs, mashed potatoes, and coconut cake and his brother Ronnie is a whiz at baked beans and corn. Jeannie also used her mom's recipe for Coca-Cola salad, which is about the same consistency of cranberry sauce, but I think that it tastes better than cranberry sauce. Aunt Barbara made her eggplant casserole and Uncle Romaine brought over his famous chocolate pies. Nephew Bubba and his wife Barbara brought green bean casserole, and there was more food brought by even more people who attended, total number around thirty.

After dinner, we have a gift exchange. Everyone brings either a man's gift or a woman's gift (limit $10). We play bingo. When you win, you go pick out a gift from your corresponding side of the table. Don't clear your card though, because whoever covers up all of their numbers wins another door prize, this year that was also a $25 gift card from Wal-Mart. I was one of the first people to win. I selected a three-piece skillet set. That was because I was thinking about all of the eggs that I would have to fry the next morning when everyone came back over for breakfast.

This Christmas was very special to all of us. We survived by remembering the past, and making our own memories to look back on in the future.

Merry Christmas

2005-12-21T13:26:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas to you and yours! I've been extremely busy these past few weeks, and I'm really just getting started. My house is officially decorated for Christmas now. We have a total of eight trees set up. My last tree was very special, because it uses some decorations given to us by our daughter-in-law Beth and son Jason (and lovely children Garrett and Hannah, of course!). She found us a set of casino decorations. The tree skirt is a roulette wheel. A "7" tops the tree, and there are poker chips, slot machines, dice, and the traditional symbols of slot machines, fruit (cherries, lemons, oranges, watermelons, and grapes) and the BAR symbols. I also set up my train set display. We have two sets of tracks, a Christmas track (stationary) that has a Christmas tree with Christmas village and a full train set that runs. The locomotive even blows smoke out of it, very cool!

The big event at hand will be our Christmas banquet. We have room for 32 people in our banquet area near the indoor pool. My gold decorated 12 ft. tree is on the diving board side of the pool. The table is decorated with various centerpieces, and we use fine china and silver for the banquet. The only changes with the menu are that we will have several people bringing food. In the past, Miss Odessa took an entire week off to clean and cook for banquet preparations. I'm having to do it AND work 45 hours a week. It's been easier than I thought though. I'm just about finished. Last night, I started washing the china and silver. I'm glad that it's all dishwasher-safe. Just a couple of more dishwasher loads and I'll have it all done.

The cooking will not be as hard either, because we have everyone coming over to make some sort of dish. We're providing ham, turkey, and roast beef and also the shrimp cocktail that starts out the meal at each place setting. I also have been given the job of making the custard this year. I tried out Miss Odessa's custard recipe at Thanksgiving and it was a hit. We like to add bananas and vanilla wafers to our custard.

It will be tough to be at the banquet with Miss Odessa not being there this year. I think that she will be proud that we are carrying on her Christmas legacy. I've been avoiding the song "Blue Christmas" this month, because it says so much about my feelings.

I'll have a Blue Christmas without you I'll be so blue thinking about you Decorations of red on a green Christmas tree Won't be the same dear, if you're not here with me I'll have a Blue Christmas that's certain And when that blue heartache starts hurtin' You'll be doin' all right, with your Christmas of white, But I'll have a blue, blue Christmas

We'll miss our dear Odessa and the memories she left us with.

Merry Christmas to all! Enjoy your loved ones while you can...because after that all you have is your memories!

Passing the Torch

2005-12-12T23:45:00.000-06:00

This holiday is very much different to our family because this year, WE are the older generation in our family passing on our traditions to the newer generations. It is very cool to inherit a house that has its own Christmas decorations. I'm interweaving my style with Miss Odessa's style, and trying to keep a lot of the traditions in place. The big tradition with Christmas is our holiday decorations. The outdoors part takes a couple of weeks of work to put it in place. We finished that part of the work Thanksgiving weekend. There are huge frames that we place lights on for a major part of the yard. One set spells out NOEL, and there is a huge red cross, and a bell and a tree in the front yard. Lighted candles two foot high line the spacious driveway, and Santa and his reindeer fly high above the field across from our house. At the corner of the yard, I have added my Mickey and Minnie Mouse carolers, with Goofy serenading everyone who drives by. I also brought over my snowmen and reindeer that are spotlighted in the front yard.

The part that actually takes more care and detail is the indoor decorations. To see what my house looked like with Miss Odessa's decorations, take a look at this website address: http://www.ecsis.net/~oscearce. My friends at MEC Designs helped me to organize the photos I took and added Christmas music to the mix. Each room has a sort of a theme and it's own color scheme. This year I have put up five trees, and I am adding two more trees to the mix. My twelve foot tree that worked well with my vaulted ceiling is too tall for my new living room, so it will have a place of honor in the swimming pool area. I am also adding a tree in the laundry room. Those are the two trees left to decorate.

Miss Odessa used to offer guided tours of her home, and in recent years made the tours by appointment only. I have tried to stay true to her original decorating schemes and have added my own touches along the way. My front room has a 6 1/2 foot tree with angel dressed in Santa robes. The tree decorations are ones that friends and relatives have given me over the years. I also have three rotating ornaments, a tree, a harp, and a violin. I use white bubble lights and decorate the boughs with small poinsettias throughout. Other components of my living room include a large Nativity scene and a rural winter wonderland scene spread across the top of the piano and organ. I also have some shelves full of my snowman collection.

The candy room is decorated with a table full of Christmas candy and a tree full of candy canes. I added red, white, and blue lights to the tree and candy cane garland. I also have a red room with a red decorated tree. On my dresser are red candle lights, a Santa and various snowmen. The gold room has a gold decorated tree with Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and an angel beneath it. Santa and Mrs. Claus have their spot on the bed in that room. I also have a tree with white decorations in the patio room. It has white icicle garland and all sorts of white ornaments that deck the tree. In the pool area there is a tree that stays there year-round. It was decorated by Marvin's Aunt Lagreeta who died a year ago. She rigged the lights so that part of them sparkle like stars, very beautiful. My twelve foot tree will take its place near the diving board of the swimming pool. It will have gold bubble lights and gold balls all over it, with a gold angel on top. That is the tree I will be completing tomorrow night.

My decorations are interweaving very nicely with this house. I had no idea that we would be inheriting this house, and I am amazed at how well things are blending together. Miss Odessa was very organized with her Christmas decorations, and I intend to carry on her traditions as we pass them on to the younger generation. I'm sure that she would be very pleased with our progress in making her house our new home.

Giving Thanks

2005-11-24T22:43:00.000-06:00

Thanksgiving is a time for giving thanks. I am most thankful for the things that I often take for granted: being able to sleep in a warm bed at night, having a roof over my head, having transportation to get me around to my various activities, not havng to worry about where my next meal is coming from, family and friends who are very supportive of me and of the things that I am passionate about. Without the aforementioned things, my quality of life would be greatly diminished. I am also thankful for the things in nature that I have been able to witness: seeing the beauty of the fall landscapes, hearing the birds sing and crickets chirp outdoors, watching deer in the field, snails crawl along the sidewalk, and viewing sunrises and sunsets and the splendid night sky that unfolds before my eyes almost every night. Life doesn't get any better than this!

Congratulations!

2005-10-21T05:58:00.001-05:00

I just found out that our son Jonathan and his wife Keri will be expecting a little one in June. Congratulations are in order all around! Everyone is very excited. I was in Nashville settling in to my hotel room on Tuesday night when I got a call from Jonathan on my cellphone. "Hey, Janna. Is dad around close?" "Well Jonathan, we are not in the same town right now. He's in Halls and I'm settling in to my hotel room in Nashville. You can probably catch him at the farm or on his cellphone." "Janna, are you ready to be a grandparent again?" "Well, it sounds like I'm going to be ready right now then? I'm so happy for both of you! How far along is she?" "About a month. We just found out!" "Well, I won't spoil the surprise. I'll let you tell your Dad." I immediately called Marvin and told him that he needed to call Jonathan. "What's the matter?" "Well, he just needs to talk to you." A few minutes later I get this call. "That is something, isn't it?" "What are you talking about?" "He told me that you know." "Know what?" I asked sheepishly. "Yeah, I am tickled."

The next morning I called Jonathan and we made arrangements for me to pick him up at Vandy after my meeting. I took them out to dinner at Cracker Barrel that night and went to church with them afterwards. Keri is absolutely glowing right now. I am so proud for them. Soon Garrett and Hannah will have another little cousin to play with. I'm very excited. The family is growing and it's so cool to see our gatherings grow bigger, a little bit at a time.

Sleeping With The Past

2005-09-30T01:47:00.000-05:00

Our local bowling association collected $700 for hurricane relief. Instead of giving it to the Red Cross and helping pay their overhead, we decided to find a family that would be settling in our local area and sponsor them. Representatives from Operation Heart (a local Dyersburg charity organization) located a family for us. This family has 38 members, ranging from grandparents to their grandchildren. They have been staying in eight rooms at a local hotel. We will be presenting them with the check tomorrow night. Plans are in the work to also provide this family with Thanksgiving dinner. One of the local churches has volunteered their banquet hall for us to use for serving them.

I also found out that more clothing was needed for these people, so tonight I cleared out the last two clothes closets in our house. These closets were special to me because they contained a lot of clothing that I wore in my college years and during my entry to corporate America. As I sorted through them, I remembered wearing the outfits to weddings, family reunions, band concerts, and various sales presentations. I even found some of my old business cards from my Tandy Corporation days. Sweet memories. It doesn't seem like it was even all that long ago.

I also found some hunting clothes that I had worn that, the pockets containing my shotgun shells and a Lower Hatchie National Wildlife Refuge hunting permit for deer dated 1993. I still remember that trip. It was the one where I got lost in the woods at the refuge in Brownsville, TN. Marlin (my ex-husband) and I got to the refuge around 4pm. He went one way and I went the other way. I did not carry my compass that day, big mistake! He told me to watch the river banks to determine my way in and out. The river was on my left on the way in, and on my right on the way out. Easy enough for this blonde to handle, right? Well, I got intrigued with watching the scenery and thinking about how nice it was to be walking in the woods, of course never seeing a deer, only a lot of squirrels that would be totally wiped out by my 20-gauge hollow point rifled slugs. I even sat down on the ground at the base of a tree and took a nap.

Around dusk, I decided that it was time to walk back out of the woods. Looking around, I had the river on the right...and the river on the left. This was not a matter of great concern, because I figured that eventually one of the streams would taper off and then I'd be on the right track. Yeah, right!

I noticed that I had walked in circles, but by this time I was so lost that everything looked familiar, and the woods was getting darker by the minute. This WAS a matter of great concern to this nature girl. I had not seem my husband in hours, and he had mysteriously disappeared into thin air. I tried yelling a little, with no success. So, what's a girl to do? This girl just kept walking, in hopes of finding her way back to the main road. Every noise startled me. I just hoped that none of those noises was some critter that decided to make supper out of me. Finally, I spotted some headlights from a truck driving down the road. I fired my Marlin shotgun in the air for three shots (which I thought would be interpreted as a distress signal) and prayed that the truck would stop. I saw it stop, and heard my husband's voice in the distance. I walked a little further and reloaded and fired three more shots. I was never more glad to see another human in my life. My instincts had led me about 1/2 mile from the highway, but this was no where near the point that I started out. Marlin had just about given up on finding me, and was headed to contact the rescue squad when he heard my shots. A close call, and another lesson to chalk up to experience. I now never leave home without a compass when going for walks in the woods.

This was just one of many memories that was brought on by looking at my clothes. I am glad that these clothes will be worn by others who truly need them now, and helping others to make new memories as they rebuild their lives.

Bonerama--Keeping Up the New Orleans Music Tradition

2005-09-22T01:45:00.000-05:00

Bonerama Hits The Road

Bonerama is a critically acclaimed New Orleans funk rock and jazz band comprised of five trombones (Steve Suter, Mark Mullins, Craig Klein, Brian O'Neil, and Matt Perrine), electric guitar (Bert Cotton), and drums (Chad Gilmore). They got their start performing at the New Orleans Jazz Fest, and have been touring coast to coast ever since.

They are back on the road again, this time to benefit their great city of New Orleans. Here is the copy of a letter sent to their mailing list:

Greetings to all,

First and foremost, we would like to say "Thank You" on behalf of the
band.Thank you for all your kind words and thoughts during this very
difficult time.Your generosity and thoughtfulness had provided
incredible comfort to everyone in the band.It is something we will
never forget.

Initially, we had intended to send out a fun-loving "welcome aboard"
message to all of Bonerama's fan club members and anyone who made the
wise decision to sign up on the mailing list at one of our many gigs
this past summer. And, until our lists have been fully merged
together, some of you may receive this message twice. Needless to say,
with so much going on, it's been difficult to stay on top of
everything. However, we recognize the urgency in reaching out and
asking everyone to rise up, get dancing and help us keep the music
alive.

While this month's turn-of-events have left us feeling deeply
saddened, we realize how fortunate we all are to be safe.Our city
once known for it's music, nightlife, southern hospitality and good
home cooking is now broken.So, we have no choice but to hit the
road.Stronger than ever is the passion to play music for our
fans.Please be there to join us.Bring all of your friends.Bring a
smile, good vibes and don't forget those dancing shoes.

Each night will be a special benefit show.Club and theater owners
along with local merchants and many volunteers will be joining
together with various charitable organizations to help rebuild,
restore and renew the city of New Orleans and the lives of those who
once called it home.

It's great to know that there are musicians out there who are donating their time and energy to keep the music of New Orleans alive through this troubled time in her history. No other city can claim the richness of diversity that she brings to the world of music...keeping the traditions alive...Thank You Bonerama!

HurricaneHousing.org (Toll Free 800-638-4559)

2005-09-13T17:47:00.000-05:00

Here's another way that we can help the hurricane evacuees. HurricaneHousing.org is offering a way for people who need temporary housing. All a person need to do is call the toll free number 800-638-4559.

They can tell the Operator where in the country they want to stay, and they'll match them with a volunteer willing to provide one or more rooms for FREE!

You can also log on to this website to volunteer any housing that you might be able to provide.

Please pass this message on to everyone you know.

HurricaneHousing.org is a project of MoveOn.org Civic Action, a non-partisan, non-profit grassroots organization that brings together 3.3 million Americans online.

America, Roll Up Your Shirtsleeves!

2005-09-11T22:11:00.000-05:00

America, the time has come to roll up your shirtsleeves! Hurricane Katrina didn't just happen to our Cajun neighbors in Louisiana, it happened to you and me as well. We are seeing her effects through increased gas prices, food shortages, and many unexpected things yet to come. Our local Wal-Mart ran out of sugar, coffee, and tea today, with no expected replenishment date for a while. New Orleans was a major entry port for coffee, so there is speculation that coffee prices may also increase. Our local Pepsi plant is currently out of Sierra Mist. Let's also think about what this crisis may do to financial markets. Think about what happened to money in New Orleans banks. We can only pray that records were backed up in a secure location, or some people may have a hard time proving how much money they had in their accounts. Our area in West Tennessee has welcomed hundreds of hurricane victims and tried to give our best Southern hospitality to these people.

As I was telling my Sunday school class yesterday, we've all got to pitch in to help, because what if the tables were turned and we needed assistance from damages due to earthquakes or tornadoes? I would only hope that someone would be there for me in that situation. Our lesson was about the early Christians and how they shared all of their assets while spreading the teachings of Jesus throughout the world. No one wanted for anything, because there was always someone to help them out. If the world still took this utopian view, there would be less crime and violence. People would have fewer reasons to be violent.

A week ago, I found out about fifty families who were being sponsored by American Greetings in a church campground near us. I remembered that we had four closets full of my mother-in-law's clothes just sitting at her house. That afternoon, my sister-in-law Jeannie, Marvin, and I spent time bagging up the clothes, bed linens, and towels for transportation to Covington, TN. By the time we were done, we had 12 large garbage bags full of clothing. It was tough giving away a part of someone who we loved so dearly, but she wouldn't have wanted us to do anything different. She would have been glad that we shared her possessions with others.

There is Operation Heart here in Dyersburg, and I have given clothing and food to this project. A truck is leaving every two days, taking supplies down to Biloxi for distribution. They are running out of food down there, and the lines are long. Last Tuesday night, I went through all of our closets at home and filled my GMC Jimmy full of clothing that we could spare. It's amazing that we actually had a truckload of things we weren't using. These are things that I will not even miss. It was so easy to do, and it is a comfort knowing that my clothes are being put to good use in the relief effort.

I hope that everyone can give what they can to get our brothers less fortunate back on track with just a few less worries. Life is too short not to help out where you can. So, give as much and give as often as you can. Your life will be blessed in ways that you cannot even begin to imagine. This whole tragedy is part of God's plan. We may never know the true purpose of why this happened, but I feel that it was God's way of making us care for each other a little more and bring a divided nation just a little closer.

My New Orleans

2005-09-06T00:17:00.000-05:00

New Orleans is a place that captured my curiosity and imagination years before I ever visited. My good friend and neighbor Nell Crawford told me stories of N'awlins when I was just a child. She felt very lucky to live there during the '40s, walking through the French Quarter to her secretarial job across town. She told me about the great music and about the French-Creole cuisine at Antoine's Restaurant and other fine dining establishments. But, as I continue to mourn her passing at the age of 92 three years ago, I also mourn the passing of the New Orleans of her past (and mine).

Being a musician myself has made me appreciate the music of this magical city. The music has been under my skin before I ever attended the New Orleans Jazz Festival during my visits there. There is such a rich diversity not found anywhere else...jazz, zydeco, rap. The musicians of N'awlins are some of the most creative people on earth. The city's slogan of "Come as you are, leave differently" has touched the minds and hearts of millions around the world, this country mouse included. I have spent the past week in mourning and, as a tribute, listening to the sounds of New Orleans and Dixieland jazz, wondering how the music will be able to live on when the place has sunk to its lowest depths. These wonderful people have been to hell and back, somehow managing to keep going through the worst tragedy in United States history. They did not deserve to be abandoned in their time of greatest need. Many of us have questions to ask of Mr. George W. Bush. There seems to be a semblance of order there now, but why did it take so long for this country to come to their aid? Another question I have is why the President of our United States planned a visit to Baton Rouge in the Great State of Louisiana, but did not communicate this fact to the Governor of that Great State? Why did Governor Blanco's office only find out about the visit after talking to reporters? With all of the advanced security measures that have to take place before one of his visits, he wasn't "just dropping in" at the spur of the moment. Gee, Mr. President, they do have phones in Louisiana these days!

The City of New Orleans will rise again like a phoenix out of the ashes. The generosity of those around me in this troubled time of our nation has been absolutely overwhelming. Everyone is pulling together with whatever help they can manage, and it's a wonderful thing. You couldn't ask for anything more. It's times like these that renew my faith in the goodness of human nature and the indomitable American spirit.

Vacation is Over... an open letter from Michael Moore to George W. Bush

2005-09-04T12:49:00.000-05:00

A friend forwarded me this message from Michael Moore. I just want to say "Thank You" to Michael for saying what the rest of us have been thinking. God Bless You, Mr. Moore!

Here's the letter:

Friday, September 2nd, 2005

Dear Mr. Bush:

Any idea where all our helicopters are? It's Day 5 of Hurricane Katrina and thousands remain stranded in New Orleans and need to be airlifted. Where on earth could you have misplaced all our military choppers? Do you need help finding them? I once lost my car in a Sears parking lot. Man, was that a drag.

Also, any idea where all our national guard soldiers are? We could really use them right now for the type of thing they signed up to do like helping with national disasters. How come they weren't there to begin with?

Last Thursday I was in south Florida and sat outside while the eye of Hurricane Katrina passed over my head. It was only a Category 1 then but it was pretty nasty. Eleven people died and, as of today, there were still homes without power. That night the weatherman said this storm was on its way to New Orleans. That was Thursday! Did anybody tell you? I know you didn't want to interrupt your vacation and I know how you don't like to get bad news. Plus, you had fundraisers to go to and mothers of dead soldiers to ignore and smear. You sure showed her!

I especially like how, the day after the hurricane, instead of flying to Louisiana, you flew to San Diego to party with your business peeps. Don't let people criticize you for this -- after all, the hurricane was over and what the heck could you do, put your finger in the dike?

And don't listen to those who, in the coming days, will reveal how you specifically reduced the Army Corps of Engineers' budget for New Orleans this summer for the third year in a row. You just tell them that even if you hadn't cut the money to fix those levees, there weren't going to be any Army engineers to fix them anyway because you had a much more important construction job for them -- BUILDING DEMOCRACY IN IRAQ!

On Day 3, when you finally left your vacation home, I have to say I was moved by how you had your Air Force One pilot descend from the clouds as you flew over New Orleans so you could catch a quick look of the disaster. Hey, I know you couldn't stop and grab a bullhorn and stand on some rubble and act like a commander in chief. Been there done that.

There will be those who will try to politicize this tragedy and try to use it against you. Just have your people keep pointing that out. Respond to nothing. Even those pesky scientists who predicted this would happen because the water in the Gulf of Mexico is getting hotter and hotter making a storm like this inevitable. Ignore them and all their global warming Chicken Littles. There is nothing unusual about a hurricane that was so wide it would be like having one F-4 tornado that stretched from New York to Cleveland.

No, Mr. Bush, you just stay the course. It's not your fault that 30 percent of New Orleans lives in poverty or that tens of thousands had no transportation to get out of town. C'mon, they're black! I mean, it's not like this happened to Kennebunkport. Can you imagine leaving white people on their roofs for five days? Don't make me laugh! Race has nothing -- NOTHING -- to do with this!

You hang in there, Mr. Bush. Just try to find a few of our Army helicopters and send them there. Pretend the people of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast are near Tikrit.

Yours,

Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
www.MichaelMoore.com

P.S. That annoying mother, Cindy Sheehan, is no longer at your ranch. She and dozens of other relatives of the Iraqi War dead are now driving across the country, stopping in many cities along the way. Maybe you can catch up with them before they get to DC on September 21st.

gas gouging

2005-08-31T15:37:00.000-05:00

Folks, we are now facing a big crisis on gasoline supplies. In Dyersburg, truck drivers are not allowed to fill up. One of the gas stations has completely run out of gas, with many more to follow. One of my customers who owns a gas station says that the wisest thing to do is to keep your gas tanks full.

This is a message that came in one of my emails today:
The Secretary of Energy was on TV this morning and stated that the Federal Government was going to release oil reserves to help keep oil production up and the reported rumors of a 25 cent jump in gas prices could be considered price gouging. He stated that if you suspected an establishment of price gouging that you can report them by going to www.energy.gov . He stated that they would investigate all gouging reports.

My lunch project today consisted of driving around town and checking gas prices, after filling my tank for $45 ($2.639) at the local Exxon. A lot of stations were in the $2.639 price range, but I found five stations that sold regular gas for $2.899 per gallon. One of those stations was selling gas for $2.569 when I drove by at 9am. At 12pm, their regular gas was selling for $2.899. What really hit a nerve with me was that this one convenience store had these big signs out front stating that they were hiring at $7.50/hr with a $450 sign-up bonus. At the price they were selling their gas, 20 gallons would pay for this person's 8 hour shift. These guys are making a killing, at the expense of the general public.

All I can say is that you really need to shop around before buying gas and make sure to keep your tank full as much as possible over the next week or so. And please report any gas gouging you see to www.energy.gov. There is a Gas Price Gouging Hotline section on the website where you list the gas station, address, and the three prices at which they are selling their gas.

I think that the hardest hit people will be people like me who do a lot of commuting. A round trip for me uses up about two gallons of gas. I guess I'm going to have to sell a whole lot more phones to be able to keep going. Either that or buy myself a Harley!

The Zen of Kitchens

2005-08-30T23:36:00.000-05:00

We are still working very hard on Miss Odessa's house at the farm, preparing it for our move. We still have the two rooms to paint and maybe can move forward with the painting this weekend. The past few days I've been organizing the kitchen while Marvin concentrated on cleaning out the carport. The lower cabinets had quite a bit of mouse activity in them, so I vacuumed them out, sanitized them, and covered them with shelf paper. I have washed all of her dishes, glasses, and silverware, sorting out what we will be keeping versus what is yard sale material. It has taken me several weeks to finish this task. There is an upper cabinet that I need to sort through one more time, because there are things in there that will also go in the yard sale I'm having this weekend. I have decided to devote the cabinets nearest the stove to the pots and pans I use more frequently in my daily cooking. The cabinets on the other side of the room will be devoted to my baking pans and the serving dishes I use. It took me a while to come to grips with how I wanted to organize things.

The pantry is in a small room on the inside wall of the kitchen. There are four very long shelves where I can stock enough groceries to last a very long time. This room was overrun with mice when I first started working on it. I regretfully had to throw away most of the groceries in it due to the high level of mouse activity. What I learned was that anything that is in a cardboard box will need to be transferred to a glass or plastic storage container to keep the mice out. This includes cereal, ramen noodles, sugar, drink mixes, jello, and flour. I have some very nice canisters that I can use for this purpose. On each side of the sink are also cabinets. The left side cabinet will hold my cookbook collection. The right side cabinet will hold my spices and herbs.

What I have learned over the past few months is to be grateful for this house that we have inherited. It has not been in the greatest shape, but we are going to make it into a place we can be proud of. I think that its not what you inherit that matters, but what you do to improve it and make it better for those who will be inheriting it from you.

Ain't No Cure...For The Summertime Blues

2005-08-13T14:35:00.000-05:00

Well, I have managed to let summer completely pass by. These past few weeks have been extremely busy with working on the house we're moving in to. We've gotten a lot done, and have become very familiar with all of the product offerings at our local Lowe's store. First of all we bought some new lighting that our son Jonathan helped us install. I have been working very hard in the kitchen and pantry also. The pantry had been overrun with mice, so I've been doing a lot of cleaning and sanitizing, and...catching mice. We are also painting and remodeling the other rooms in the house. We want to get things pretty much the way we want them before moving in. Otherwise we'll never get it done.

We bought some Italian leather furniture for the living room. The lighter color makes the room look bigger. We also bought a chrome home theater system and added a black & chrome tv stand and speakers. On one wall we also have a piano and organ that have been there for many years. The piano will need to be tuned, and I have been working with the organ to get it back in playing shape. I opened the back and removed the remains of three dead mice and used some electronic component cleaner to clear out the dust. I am now just turning it on everytime I'm over, so that it gets used to being on and warming up. I tried playing it a few months ago, and it overheated a little. I just have to be patient with it, but I think that it will eventually be able to handle someone playing it.

The computer room is now a very nice beige color with a seascape border. We made some desks out of some old shelves and cabinets, so now we have Nintendo and Atari set up on one wall for children when they come over to visit. We also put together some white oak computer desks for when we get our computers moved over. I'm still looking for a nice set of bookshelves to finish out the room. We also have repainted a guest bedroom. This one has red carpet, so we painted it "air pink". This will have a butterfly/dragonfly decor, and we will be moving over the bedroom suite soon. This will also let us sleep over some on weekends so that we can get more work done.

There are two more rooms to remodel before we completely move in. We're trying to find someone to help us with replacing a ceiling fan and then we will be able to paint the next room. Once that's done, we are moving the bedroom suite out of the master bedroom and we can work on it. The floor needs to be jacked up because one of the walls seems to be settling in a little too much. Then we also have the matter of replacing the bathtub in the main bathroom. First of all, the roof needs to be patched in that general vicinity. We have found someone who will do that for us next month after the temperatures cool down. Miss Odessa had started remodeling the bathroom and there are wall panels in the garage that are ready to put up as soon as we replace the tub.

The swimming pool area is mostly ready. Marvin cleaned out the pool and we have been swimming quite a bit this summer. We moved all of our videotapes out to the area near the pool table. It took a couple of nights, because she had around 1500 tapes, 30 alone were of the first Gulf War. She continuously taped a satellite station that sent information back to the States. We will also be bringing over about 200 tapes of our own. I have already migrated my houseplants to the pool area along the sliding glass doors. I am planning to add some bamboo blinds to give it sort of a tropical look. We are trying to find someone who might be able to fix the pinball machines, and will probably add some more games like air hockey out in that area.

There's still a lot to be done, but we've made a lot of progress and should be able to get moved in within the next couple of months. Then our next mission is to prepare our house for selling. I see a lot of yard sales in my future...

Happy Independence Day Weekend!

2005-07-02T00:53:00.000-05:00

Happy Independence Day Weekend Everybody! I've declared this weekend a "stay up as long as you want, no alarm clock, The Godfather Movie Marathon Weekend!" That's while I'm still up, watching my Godfather movies (we have the entire set!), and surfing the net at 1AM. In between everything else, we're going to do more work at my mother-in-law's house (so that we can get moved in quicker) and try to work on straightening out our pond so that we can catch more fish! Yeah! We bought some assorted things to barbeque (Marvin's job) and cook (in between everything everything else) over the weekend. I hope that everyone has a great weekend, because I'ma sure gonna!

Lunchtime Fiasco

2005-07-01T14:17:00.000-05:00

I have a really funny (but sad also) tale to tell about lunch today. Misty (one of my co-workers) was going to lunch around 12, and I asked her to bring me back a 7-layer burrito from Taco Bell. I noticed that she was gone a really long time, but that was okay because I was able to handle the customers just fine. When she got back in, I found out that while she was in the drive-thru, the truck in front of her decided to catch on fire right at the window. She had to go inside to pick up my order, which took an extra long time. I guess that guy just couldn't handle the Extra-Hot sauce. He'd better try the Mild next time.

Beatles

2005-06-30T15:34:00.000-05:00

Jonathan also gave me some small round Beatles pins that were very nice. I've been collecting Beatles paraphanalia since 1964, when the bobblehead dolls of the loveable moptops were on my birthday cake. I've got quite a few of their albums, but not nearly as many as my friend Laura does. We've been friends since college, and she has been a Beatles fan for as long as I have. When I was in Dallas last summer, I had the privilege of attending a performance of a Beatles tribute band, "A Hard Night's Day". These guys are truly awesome, and they play all over Texas. It was cool to hang out with the band and the various fans who come out every week. Laura sometimes plays the tambourine for them on a song or two. Of course, Guinness stout had to be the drink of the night because British band = British beer. The music of the Beatles continues to be timeless and never out of style. I think that for every situation in life, you can find a Beatles lyric that sums it all up. From Me to You, Janna

Weekend Outing

2005-06-26T22:16:00.000-05:00

Marvin and I headed to Portland, TN this weekend to see our son Jonathan and his wife Keri. We had a splendid time during our visit. After breakfast we went to check out the progress on the home they are building. The foundation of the house has been completed, and next week the framers will be there to get started. In about another week, the house will be ready for wiring. Things seem to be progressing nicely, and soon they will have a very nice house to move into. The land around the house is slowly being cleared too, and there is so much potential with the acreage they own. We are very proud of what we have seen so far.

We also visited one of the biggest flea markets in Tennessee at the state fairgrounds in Nashville. We walked around for several hours and found all sorts of odds and ends available for sale. We picked up a few things while we were there, and enjoyed looking at all of the items. I found a complete set of Beatrix Potter books for Hannah, her first set of books. We walked around for a few hours and still didn't see everything. We went back to their house afterwards and Keri and I picked up supper at Sonic while Marvin and Jonathan tinkered with the mower and got the lawn mowed.

After supper, we went by for the ending activities of camp week at Jonathan & Keri's church. We had a lot of fun there too. Jonathan & Marvin played horseshoes while Keri & I watched. Marvin won two out of three games, and of course everyone couldn't help ribbing Jonathan a little, especially since it had been about fifteen years or so since Marvin had played horseshoes. There was also a very friendly game of baseball going on between the men, and we watched a little of that before heading back to the house. We also saw part of "National Treasure" before retiring for the night. That is a very good movie, and I hope to see the rest of it soon. After a quick breakfast at Cracker Barrel, we started on our drive back home.

On our way back home, we stopped at a convenience store in Dickson, where I ran into a friend and her mother, who were coming back from a trip to Atlanta. Her mother had not set up voicemail on her Verizon cellphone yet, so since they knew that I work for a Verizon dealer, I helped them set up voicemail and we went our separate ways. It's amazing how small the world can be sometimes. You can be very far from home and still find people you know. It's good to get away from it all, but as Dorothy said in "The Wizard of Oz", "There's no place like home."

Summer Colds

2005-06-22T15:12:00.000-05:00

Yup, I have finally succumbed to the good old-fashioned summer cold and snotty nose. Too much swimming, too much going from indoors to outdoors, too much change in temperature. I had to leave work early on Monday just to try to get my body to cope with all of this change. I mostly slept for the next 20 hours. With a little help from a few doses of ginger tea sweetened with honey, my sore throat went away, but I still am very congested. I feel like I'm back from the dead and slowly waking up.

St. Louis Cardinals

2005-06-16T22:44:00.000-05:00

The St. Louis Cardinals is my favorite Major League baseball team of all time. They totally redeemed themselves from the World Series fiasco when they won 2 out of 3 games against the Boston Red Sox a couple of weeks ago. My question is: Where were these guys last year at World Series time? I realize that a few players have been added and changed around, so that's really more of a rhetorical/hindsight question than anything else. As a present for Marvin for Father's Day, I purchased tickets for the Cardinals/Braves game in St. Louis on August 6th. He already knows though, because I'm not very good at keeping secrets. I called him and asked him to make sure that he was off on August 6th. When he asked me why, I told him that we were going to have plans. Then he asked me, "What row is it on? Will I need to bring my binoculars?" I did not think quick enough, so I totally gave myself away with my silence. This is also the last year for the Cardinals to play in Busch Stadium, so we wanted to make it over there for the last season. We saw a very interesting news segment about the construction of the new stadium. St. Louis is very near the New Madrid fault in Missouri, so the new stadium is being built to handle earthquakes. It is built in sections that are more flexible and will be able to withstand shaky ground.

It will be good to see the Cardinals in person again. Our seats are fairly high up, but it will still be a great trip and I know that we will have a wonderful time.

a near miss

2005-06-03T22:49:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I had a bit of a scare. With thoughts of earthquakes still on my mind, I headed to work in my GMC Jimmy. I took my normal route through Main St. Dyersburg and up to Troy Ave. It had been raining, so the road were very slick. Just ahead of me, I saw a car stopped in the road, getting ready to make a turn. I hit my brakes, and there were no brakes. I started skidding while pressing down on the brakes for all I was worth. It looked like I was going to hit the back of the car. To the right of the car was very little space because there was a brick wall and a curb in front of it. I headed towards the brick wall, missing the car. The curb (thank goodness!) helped me come to a complete stop. My wheels wound up on top of the curb, just inches from the brick wall, a near miss. I was just a little shaken as I called Marvin to let him know that there was definitely something just a little bit out of whack with the brakes. I drove his Nissan truck (stick shift, ewww!) to work today while our mechanics looked at my SUV. The brake pads were cracked somehow, so I got new pads and drums and they turned the rotors. Saved again by the skin of my teeth.

A lot of times life is like that. You're going along with an obstacle directly in your path. No matter how hard you try, it looks like you are going to hit the obstacle with full force. Then you see an opening to the side that will allow you to barely clear that obstacle. But you wind up nearly hitting a brick wall, only to be stopped by the curb in front of it. Life is strange, but then the alternative is way too boring for me! I'd rather do a little skidding around and have a few near misses. It's more exciting that way, and what a story you'll have later to tell your grandkids!

Makin' Like Jerry Lee Lewis

2005-06-02T17:53:00.000-05:00

Man, we had a whole lotta shakin' goin' on around my part of West Tennessee today. Around 6:35am, there was an earthquake (4.0 on the Richter scale, epicenter Ridgely, TN). I was laying down reading when all of a sudden it sounded like a big truck was outside the house. The house shook for about 5 seconds and then there was this big BOOM that resounded over the countryside. Marvin was in his vehicle on his way to work when the earthquake hit and he didn't notice anything unusual.

Earthquakes are a totally new element for me. The first one I ever experienced was back in 1986 when I lived in Columbus, Ohio, which is surprisingly on the same fault line as we are here in Tennessee, the New Madrid fault (New Madrid, MO). Back between mid-December 1811 and mid-March 1812, there were a series of quakes that shook our area. The Richter scale had not been developed at that time, but it is felt that these quakes would have been some of the largest on record. They caused The Mississippi River to change its course and actually flow backwards for a while. Reelfoot Lake (Lake County, TN) is an eighteen thousand acre lake that was formed during these quakes when whole forests sank below the ground and water filled the holes to form lakes and swamps.

On May 1, we had an earthquake of 4.1 on the Richter scale. Its epicenter was Big Lake, AR. I was sitting at my computer when it happened, and I felt the same sensations and kept thinking that a big truck was driving through our road. I'm starting to look at earthquakes as God's way of saying "Hi, remember me?" He sure gave us a big shout out this morning!

HB Global Chess Challenge

2005-05-23T22:53:00.000-05:00

We are very proud of our son Jonathan too. This past weekend, he participated in the HB Global Chess Challenge in Milwaukee, MN. He competed in the under-1400 group, with his tournament rating at 1307. There were 215 entrants in his division, and he came in 22nd place (which means he also won a little $$$!), and his record was 6-2-1, not too shabby for our boy from Tennessee. He's been playing since he was in junior high, and he tries to enter tournaments every chance he gets.

These national tournaments draw a wide variety of participants, ranging in age from kindergarden students to the very elderly. Marvin and I took Jonathan to an World Chess Federation tournament a few years ago in Philadelphia. The hotel meeting rooms were filled with tables and table of people playing chess. Tournament play uses chess timers, which means a game has to be played within a certain time limit. Jonathan actually won a game during this current tournament because his opponent ran out of time. During the Philadelphia tournament, I actually got to see Josh Waitzkin (of the movie "Searching for Bobby Fisher" fame) play. He was in the Grand Masters division, a very impressive room.

I admire anyone who has the patience to learn the strategy involved in chess. There are so many different approaches to the game, that I was amazed when I visited the gift shop at the WCF tournament. There are books and books written on the subject. I guess that you could say that chess is another one of those games that takes just a few minutes to learn but a lifetime to master. Salute!

More Baby Hannah

2005-05-21T07:32:00.000-05:00

Baby Hannah is now home and doing just fine. Jason and Beth returned home on Thursday evening. Marvin and I went to their house after work to see everyone. She was sleeping peacefully in her crib. Garrett was also back home after spending a few days with cousins. He was a little perturbed because his Playstation 2 was not playing games. So, after visiting a few minutes, we left to find Garrett a Playstation cleaning kit, and to pick up a few odds and ends groceries that Jason and Beth needed. Marvin's ex-wife Susan was there cooking dinner (and helping to keep a close eye on Hannah), and by the time we got back from shopping, dinner was ready. She made fried chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, spinach with eggs, and rolls. It was all good. When we got to the house, Garrett was sitting in a glider, and Susan was teaching him how to hold Hannah. He is nine, and a very good big brother so far. He is trying his best to help out too, but balks at changing diapers at the moment. You can tell that he is just crazy about his new little sister. She has mostly been sleeping a lot and eating every couple of hours. She has this cute little cry that she makes to let everyone know that she's hungry. She is just the sweetest little girl, and I'm sure that you can't tell that she is going to be spoiled rotten by her grandparents. Marvin and I went out and got her some pink onesies last night, along with pink socks to match, and a little lullaby teddy bear.

It's amazing how the arrival of just one little girl can change everyone's lives so drastically. I feel so happy, and I'm showing photos of Hannah to all of my customers. I'm very proud of her. We already can imagine her playing all sorts of sports and going hunting with her daddy and fishing with her granddaddy. I'll be somewhere too, probably taking lots more pictures.

Hannah Daisy Scearce, born 05/17/05!

2005-05-17T17:22:00.000-05:00

Hannah Daisy Scearce

Baby Hannah

2005-05-17T15:46:00.000-05:00

We got up early this morning and drove to the Baptist Women's Hospital, where we waited a couple of hours for Jason and Beth's baby to be born. At around 10AM we were pleasantly surprised with the arrival of Hannah Daisy, weighing 8 lb. 4 oz. She's a real sweet baby and we are very proud of her.

baby alert

2005-05-10T23:30:00.000-05:00

On our way back from Baton Rouge, we checked in with our daughter-in-law. She went to the doctor for her 35th week checkup. At first they were going to have her come back tomorrow and they were going to induce labor. A couple of hours later they called us back and we found out that if she doesn't go into labor before next Tuesday, May 17th, then they will do a C-section on her that day. She will have to be there at 5:30am, so that means that we will be there with her too, waiting patiently in the delivery waiting room. The baby had its legs crossed at the ultrasound, so we're not sure about the sex yet, and are mainly just praying for a healthy baby. If it's a boy, the name is Gaven Murphy. If it's a boy, the name is Hannah Daisy. Only time will tell on whether we'll be holding a Gaven or a Hannah. Anyway, I'm excited about having a step grandchild. I think it's even more special, because this is a child that is not biologically connected to you. The only strings holding you together are your heartstrings.

Baton Rouge, Part III

2005-05-10T08:39:00.000-05:00

This is my last post from Baton Rouge. We are leaving this morning after eating a great breakfast at Chase Suites, a place that I highly recommend. Our guys did great bowling last night. Marvin had a really great second game in his single series, 234. This is is third highest game ever. He wound up with 7 strikes in a row. You can't ask for anything better than that! He will wind up winning a little money. He also had the highest score in his squad. I am Tennessee-bound now! Later Dudes!

Baton Rouge, Part II

2005-05-09T19:39:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was a pretty sunny day, temps in the 80s. We did a little sightseeing. We toured the USS Kidd, a WWII battleship that was hit by a Japanese kamikaze pilot, which is a memorial to the 38 men killed in action. We got to see the actual living quarters and everything on the entire ship. If these living quarters are the same for military men now, those guys are really packed in like sardines, and it's a very tight space. We also saw the officer's quarters, which was not quite so bad. Near a radar room, there was even an engineer's bunk that still had the picture of his sweetheart, a few bottles of painkillers (circa 1945), and the books and maps needed for his job. Whoever put this memorial together went to a lot of trouble to recreate the actual wartime scenario. There was also a great museum inside that had a lot of other Navy history, complete with uniforms, ship replicas, and weaponry.

The teams also bowled last night and did good. The highest team score at the moment for the Classified Division is 3972, a very tough score to beat. Our men are trying though and usually do better in the doubles and singles. They bowl again tonight at 11:30.

Today we got up really late and ate brunch at IHOP. Then we went over to the River Center, where the bowling is going on and verified tonight's times. We walked along the riverfront (Mississipppi River) and the downtown area. We stopped at the Old State Capitol and toured it. They have an excellent Huey Long display. There is a statue of him behind a podium, and he delivers six different speeches ranging from LSU, a college he really loved, to the new state capitol. There was a lot of historical information there too, the Lousiana Purchase, all of the different state governors, people in the state who have made a difference, why you should vote, and numerous other topics were displayed in various rooms. There was a very grand staircase that you climbed to go to the second level. On the ceiling of the capitol was elaborate stained glass windows. It was truly awesome to see.

After all that walking, we are back at the hotel now chilling out. We're ordering Domino's pizza, hot wings, Cinnasticks, and cheesy bread and resting before the 11:30 bowling session. We won't get back in until after 2am, so we will be going to bed really "early" tomorrow morning. Maybe the guys will do better today since they had a chance to bowl on the lanes yesterday. Bowling is strange that way. You may throw the same ball and wear the same shoes, but each set of lanes is made of different materials and balls react differently in different places when thrown on them. Sometimes they may go straight and other times they may hook. A good bowler knows how to react in each set of circumstances, while other bowlers try to do the same thing in each place, which will result in disaster.

Baton Rouge

2005-05-08T08:49:00.000-05:00

I writing this blog a computer at our hotel in Baton Rouge. We are staying at Chase Suites, a very nice place. The two bedroom suite has a room upstairs and a room downstairs. There is a fireplace (not needed this time of the year), nice dining room, living room with big TV, couch, and armchair, and a fully-equipped kitchen. Marvin is in the National ABC Bowling Tournament here. He bowls late tonight and then again sometime tomorrow morning. We rode down from Tennessee early yesterday morning with another couple. It took about eight hours to get here. We ate breakfast at Cracker Barrel in Horn Lake, MS. An interesting thing that happened while we were there was one of the ladies who was eating in the restaurant had this big pink bow in her hair. What was unique about this was that the bow was one like you would put on a present. She had what I would call "really big hair", and this pink bow was seated on the right side of her head in the front. One of those things that make you go "Hmmm". We ate lunch in Yazoo City, MS at a Wendy's. There was this guy in there who evidently was travelling the country on foot. He had a walking stick and a bunch of duffel bags. He also looked (and smelled!) like he hadn't had a bath in several days.

We got here and checked in the hotel, and then decided to find the convention center where the guys would be bowling. Then we had a nice dinner at Ruby Tuesdays. I had Cajun-spiced tilapia with shrimp and a salad and veggies. We had potstickers for an appetizer. Then we went back to the hotel where I relaxed in the hot tub and went swimming. I was so tired after swimming that I went to sleep and slept for about 10 hours. We just finished eating breakfast here at the hotel. You can make your own waffles, and they have a variety of cereals, yogurt, breads, cofffe, milk, and juices. We are going to go sightseeing now. I will report back later...Abbeygrape

update: life and loathing and movies in Tennessee

2005-04-23T00:49:00.000-05:00

I know it's been a while since I've posted, but life has been hectic and strange. Marvin inherited Miss Odessa's house, so we have been very busy with the estate, and settling her last wishes as stated in her will. The contents of her house are to be divided among the three children, so we've all been doing lots of cleaning and organizing at the house. She never threw anything away, so a lot of sorting and disposal of items that should have been discarded long ago have had to take place before the good items can be selected. There are a lot of items that will remain in the house, mainly because they are more like family traditions, such as her Christmas decorations. I plan to continue decorating the house in a similar style to hers. I took some photos and then a couple of my coworkers designed a Christmas website around her indoor Christmas decorations. You can check it out at: http://www.ecsis.net/~oscearce. This is a great website and very professionally done.

We are planning on adding new carpeting and painting the rooms differently as our budget permits. We are working with the computer/game room at the moment. We will move all of the furniture out and then patch the walls and paint them. We have decided to paint that room a sandy color. We found this very cute seascape border, complete with Adirondack chairs, that we will place at the top near the ceiling. Then we will move back in several desks that have Nintendo game stations and a few computers set up for gaming. We plan on adding DSL internet service when we move in and network a few computers together. If you haven't seen it in action, DSL is da bomb! As soon as you click on something, it automatically loads the page. There is also a huge bookcase full of videotapes. Miss Odessa loved to tape movies. At three movies per tape, she probably had around three thousand movies on tape. We are working on cataloging these tapes and printing out a synopsis of each movie, and make these tapes available to relatives who would like to watch them. It will be a sort of video library for us all. She would have liked that. It will take several notebooks to fit all of the synopses. There is an excellent website: http://www.imdb.com that lists details on just about every movie ever made. The proper title for this website is The Internet Movie Database. I highly recommend it to anyone who loves watching movies.

fake cheese

2005-03-04T11:08:00.000-06:00

One of my most recent pet peeves is fake cheese and snackfoods. If you look at the nutrition label on Cheetos or crunchy cheese snacks like Cheetos, you will notice something very interesting. No calcium! How in the heck can you have something that tastes so much like cheese, and yet no calcium? Thanks to the miracle of modern chemistry, we can eat cheese and not even get the benefits of actual nutrients. Are we all just hypnotized or what? I've always been of the school "if it walks like a duck, then it probably is a duck..." But not in the case of Cheetos! They still taste great, especially those Flamin' Cheetos, my favorite!

Miss Odessa

2005-02-21T14:25:00.000-06:00

On February 2nd, I lost my mother-in-law Odessa, a truly special lady. She was 80 years and 88 days old, born November 6, 1924.

Miss Odessa went to the doctor on Thursday, January 27, because she wasn't feeling well. Her lungs were at 30% capacity, due to complications from emphysema. The doctor prescribed some prednisone to help with this problem, and she was feeling better on Tuesday night. She went into work Tuesday for a few hours, but that was her. Her philsophy of life was to go to work even if you didn't feel like working. Then whatever you couldn't do, get someone else to help you do it. (I've always been that way too. That's probably why we got along so well.) She seemed very tired, so her children told her to go home and take the day off on Wednesday to get some rest. Around 4:30pm, I received an email from her. She was trying to find a copy of an email she had deleted. It was about silk necklaces for sale. Her sisters were going to try to make some, and she needed to give them a copy of the email. My sister-in-law Jeannie was over at her house that night and rolled her hair. She was going to take it down on Wednesday morning when she woke up.

From talking to various people, this is what I can piece together about her last morning on earth: She never put her teeth in that day, so she was trying to sleep late. The last person who called her was her sister Warlene, around 9:30. Her sister Barbara tried calling around 2, but did not get an answer. So, the estimated time of death was 9:30am-2:00pm. She had a gash on the top of her forehead and on her right shin, so she took a tumble shortly before she died, probably shortly after getting off of the phone with Warlene. There was no bleeding even though the gashes were deep, indicating to me that she must have died shortly after the fall. She must have decided to go back to bed and rest after falling, and her curlers were still in her hair.

From the caller id in the house, I noticed that Barbara tried calling around 5. Around 5:15, my brother-in-law Ronnie called from work to check on her. He didn't get an answer, so he called his uncle Romaine who lived near Miss Odessa. Romaine did not get an answer a few minutes later, so he drove over to the house. He beat on the front door and her bedroom windows, but did not get a response. He broke in her front door and found her in the bed with the bedroom door closed. She looked very peaceful, like she just drifted off to the next world. She went her own way, no hospital drama for her.

He began calling relatives. By the time Marvin and I got there, the house was full of people in various stages of grief and disbelief. I went in and paid my respects at her bedside. Then Marvin and I got to checking around. No one had called an ambulance or the sheriff to report her demise. I was then given the duty of making calls to various authorities. I first of all called the ambulance service. I was asked if she had a DNR (do no resuscitate) on file. I said, "Ma'am, it's not a matter of DNR, she's dead." The ambulance guys knew where she lived, so they were on the way. Next I called the sheriff's department to report us finding her deceased. There was no evidence of foul play, but we wanted to cover all bases, "just in case". I also called our preacher, who was returning from a trip from Brownsville, TX.

I've done a little math regarding Miss Odessa's lifespan. I counted all leap years accurately and this is my conclusion: She lived 29,308 days or 42,203,520 minutes. If her heart beat an average of 80 beats per minute, then it beat a total of 3,376,281,600 beats during her lifetime. That's the best anyone could ever ask for.

running waters

2005-01-18T13:29:00.000-06:00

The weather here in Northwest Tennessee has gotten colder again. The temperatures are only reaching about 30. The sun is shining, but it's very misleading because the weather is not warming up much at all. I'm definitely putting the ear muffs I got for Christmas to work. The wind is blowing slightly, which means that the wind chill puts the temperature about six degrees or so lower than what is being reported.

At my house, you have to take extra precautions when the temperatures drop. The water in the sink has to run at a trickle so that the pipes don't freeze. Also, since the laundry room is located on the north end of the house, I have to wash clothes more frequently to keep the water running there. The pipes freeze with no warning, stranding you with a big pile of laundry and hours spent at the laundromat washing clothes. When the pipes freeze in the laundry room, it takes a long time for them to thaw, even when you run a heater near the pipes to warm things up.

I'm also dressing in layers to try and stay warm when I do have to venture outside. I have several wool sweaters that I wear with various shirts and turtlenecks on underneath. Since work and other places I have to go are usually about a thirty minute drive, I try to make sure I'm bundled up "just in case" my vehicle has a break down and I have to wait on help.

The cold weather is good for us though, because it kills off the insects that would otherwise run rampant during the summer. They manage to show up, but not nearly as big a population if we didn't have the colder weather.

Another thing that happens during this weather is the presence of rodent life-forms, usually unseen. I keep an ample supply of rat & mice poison in the laundry room and other areas where I've noticed a little activity. I have "the best party in town". I'm legendary in the rodent community. When they come to one of my "parties", some don't make it back home alive. I have to use poison because they laugh at traps and other devices I've tried over the years. It's "survival of the fittest" and so far I've been the most fit.

to tell the tooth!

2005-01-15T23:00:00.000-06:00

This year has started out with me being very "toothfully challenged." I feel like I've been to the dentist more already this year than I did the entire last year combined. I was eating some peanut brittle last weekend and broke my crown. I understand that crowns are almost impossible to break, but of course not if you're ME! I went Thursday for impressions, and the dentist put in a temporary crown until my crown arrives in February. The temporary crown feels funny in a way, because it feels rough and not very toothlike at all. I was told not to chew gum or eat taffy or caramel while the temporary is in. Of course, I don't eat much taffy or caramel, but since I can't have them, I'm craving some! Such is life... So, for those out there who can eat taffy or caramel, please eat some and think about me and my temporary crown!

Happy New Year

2005-01-05T16:18:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year Everybody! I hope that the start of your year is going well. I brought the new year in at a 40-Frame Game bowling party. It was fun, adults-only, BYOB. Marvin is the designated driver and I'm the designated drinker. I drank Fuzzy Navels all night long and didn't have a hangover afterwards either. The next evening we had a 50th birthday dinner for Marvin at our house. We had nine people over: my mother-in-law, and my two stepsons and their families. I made minute steaks with gravy (his request was "like Mama used to make!"), broccoli-cauliflour salad, mashed potatoes, macaroni & cheese, green peas, and German Chocolate cake. I spent all afternoon cooking and was very tired afterwards. The most stressful part was making the minute steak with gravy "like Mama used to make." I called her and told her what I was doing, and she gladly gave me her recipe. I passed the test though, and got her approval when she arrived at the house.

After dinner, most everyone left except for the son and his wife from Nashville who were spending the night with us. He gave his dad a Texas Hold 'em poker set, so we all spent a couple of hours playing poker. I was the first one to lose all my chips, so I don't think you'll see me playing on TV anytime soon! Our other son gave him a movie coupon book and some gift certificates to a local restaurant. My gift was tickets to "Little Shop of Horrors" , an off-Broadway production that will be playing in Nashville at the end of this month.

The first day of the new year was great, and we got to see a lot of family too. The next step is getting my Christmas decorations down, and back up in the attic. Our attic is the type where you climb up this ladder, and then things have to be handed up to you. It's an aerobic workout just getting up and down! More fun to be had by all...

Tsunami

2005-01-02T20:13:00.000-06:00

The end of this year brought the dreaded tsunamis on December 26th that devastated countries from Malaysia to East Africa (Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the Maldives, and Somalia. As of today, the death toll was at 115,000. The aftershocks continue...

The earthquake was at a 9.0 magnitude, the strongest on the planet since 1964. It changed the lives of people from many nations almost immediately, because there was very little time to react. It was run for your life or die. The people who tried to bring personal possessions with them were the ones who wound up dying. The tsunamis did not affect just the Asian side of the world. They affected the entire world, because citizens from other countries were also among the casualties and missing: Australia, Austria, Belguim, Britain, Canada, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Portugul, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, and the United States.

This also affected me personally because I have some Thai college friends that I was concerned about. My roommate for one semester and a friend who lived next door to us in the dorm both are now college professors in Bangkok. I also have a friend who is a college professor in Alabama, and he was like a big brother to me. I have been trying to call him ever since I heard about the tsunamis, and got no answer at any of the numbers I have for him. I finally resorted to leaving a voice mail on his cellphone, asking him to call me and let me know how he was doing. I've been praying for the safety of my friends. In church this morning, I also said a little prayer for them. Today my prayer was answered. Sonny called me this afternoon and let me know that he was okay. He was one of the lucky ones. He was at one of the beaches that was hit hardest in Thailand only four days before the tsunamis. He said that the water there is normally very clear, but the week he was there it was very muddy, indicating that something was happening below the ocean. He almost stayed another week, but then decided to return back to Bangkok. His immediate family is fine, but he is sure that some relatives of his were killed.

The thought that some of my good friends could have been killed has been very upsetting to me. It really makes you think about how much you should appreciate the people in your life who have meant so much to you, and have helped contribute to who you are and are a part of you.

happy merry christmas

2004-12-28T12:46:00.000-06:00

This Christmas was very nice. Early Christmas Eve afternoon, we had a visit from my stepson Jason, his wife Beth, and their son Garrett. We exchanged gifts with them and sat around talking for a while. Next on the agenda was my mother-in-law's annual Christmas banquet. My husband Marvin fried a turkey for us to take over. There were about twenty people in attendance this year. Everyone brought a man or woman's gift, and we played bingo. When you won, you picked out your gift. Everyone had the option to take a gift that someone else had already selected, otherwise known as "Dirty Santa", but no one exercised that option. I selected a porcelain snowman (i collect snowmen) that had an opening at the back where you can also insert a candle to light him up.

I have some friends who took some pictures I took of my mother-in-law's Christmas house and put them on a website as her personal page. They added Christmas music, and it is pretty cool. Check it out at: www.ecsis.net/~oscearce.

Marvin and I took our presents over to his mother's house the next morning, and we opened our presents along with his brother, niece, and mother. I got a lot of nice things and I'm very thankful for everything. I received clothes, jewelry, DVDs ("A Christmas Story" and "Simon & Garfunkel Old Friends"), a vacuum cleaner, a coffee table, a silver breakfast set, a casserole serving set, a couple of food gift sets, gift cards from JC Penny's & Hastings, an M&Ms Christmas candy dish, and assorted cards and letters from various friends. I'm going to take advantage of the after-Christmas specials and make full use of those gift cards. Thanks for everything, everybody!

This time of year makes me thankful for my family and extended family and friends. That's what Christmas is all about really. It's about celebrating the birth of Jesus with those who mean the most to us. I hope everyone had a great holiday, and may 2005 be good to all of you.

snow and such

2004-12-23T14:51:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas to everyone. I'd like to give a shout out to all my family and friends who are spread out over the miles. I hope that Santa brings you all that you wish for plus a box of cookies. Or candy, if you prefer. Here in Tennessee we are being blasted with a winter storm. This is the first white Christmas that we've seen in probably ten years or so, the type of weather for careful driving. I just put my truck in 4 wheel drive and go slow and use my brakes sparingly. I've been exposed to winter driving since I was sixteen. That was my first year of driving. When winter came, my dad did not let me drive in the ice and snow. He told me that this was my learning year. So, every time the car left the house, I went with him, and he taught me proper braking and steering for winter conditions. He was a good teacher and tried to show and tell me what he was doing and explained things such as why you need to gradually slow down instead of suddenly hit your brakes, and how to ride out the spin when your vehicle starts swerving. I was grateful for this instruction even though I was very impatient and wanted to drive that year. The Arkansas Delta was flat land snow driving, which was very easy compared to what followed.

During my years in Fayetteville, Arkansas and the University of Arkansas, I learned how to slide up and down the hills that are characteristic of that area. I worked for an inventory company and did a lot of traveling to surrounding towns, and Oklahoma & Missouri in the ice and snow. When I lived in Columbus, Ohio, the winters were managed very nicely there. Lots of snow, but the roads were clear of ice. Then I wind up back in Tennessee, where we see some winter weather, but not that often. Drivers here do well to drive when it's raining, much less when you have four inches of snow on the ground. We have some hills and curves, but nothing like my Northwest Arkansas experience. The toughest part of my drive is about a hundred yards from the main highway. (Yes, I do live off the beaten path! Take a right off the main road...) I have this downhill slope with curves that has to be taken very slowly so that you don't wind up in the woods on either side of the road. One funny thing I saw last night was that one of the highway department road crew trucks got stuck in the median of the four-way highway near my house. It was still there when I drove to work this morning. I bet it will take a long time for that guy to live that mistake down. A new definition of winter weather: You know it's really bad when...even the road crew trucks get stuck in the snow.

Merry Christmas to all...and Happy Trombones to some of us!
Abbeygrape, still hangin' out on the winter vine...

update: living on the fringe

2004-12-23T11:14:00.000-06:00

Today, I saw my "robber/mass murderer" again, and he was actually a little nicer, although still a little strange. He came back to my store again with more people around (a much safer situation), and bought a cellphone from me for his wife. So, somehow I turned the potentially bad situation the other day into a sale. Leave it to me to turn lemons into lemonade. Maybe I do watch too much TV and read Stephen King a lot. But it doesn't hurt to be cautious when your instincts and intuition tell you that something is just a little bit out of the ordinary, on the fringe.

living on the fringe

2004-12-18T13:39:00.000-06:00

Today at work I faced a very strange situation. I was the first person to get here, so I went ahead and opened the doors for business at the right time. I went in the back to get out the change for the drawers, and I heard the door chime. I walked up front with our cash envelopes and discovered a customer on the sales floor. I have an almost intuitive insight into human nature, and something about this man suggested that he was one of the people who are living on the fringe of insanity. He wore the brown jacket similar to UPS driver's apparel. He looked like he was capable of being a mass murderer, or am I a product of reading Stephen King books and watching too much TV? I was concerned about showing any money in front of this man, so I put the cash envelopes into a drawer near the counter and went to see how I could help him. He has been in our store before, but always when other people were here. I had lights on in the rear office area, so he really had no idea that I was there alone. He was asking the price of our diskettes, which people only rarely buy, because we sell them in singles for 99 cents each. That was a main clue that I was dealing with someone who might not be living in the same time warp that I am. Another customer walked in after a couple of minutes, giving me time to think about how I needed to deal with the other person. He placed an order for a cellphone antenna, and then left, leaving me with this shell of a person. I decided that I needed to stay calm and cool and keep my sales personna on. I began to treat him like most of our normal customers who are in and out of here on a daily basis. I asked a few questions about what he was needing to do, and did let him know that Wal-Mart had a much better price on diskettes by the box than we did. I kept my composure and tried to engage him in conversation, and finally he left. Shortly thereafter my coworkers arrived and I felt safe once again, back in the arms of normal society.

a little bull!

2004-12-12T23:07:00.000-06:00

This morning our cow Sweetie Pie had her calf, a baby bull we are naming George. We knew that she would be coming in anytime soon, because she was showing the usual signs of swollen milk bags and labored breathing.

This was truly a miracle birth because it took three years in between her calves.

It was on a summer day about three years ago that we decided to sell four of our cows (one-half our herd) to give better grazing for the remaining cows. Our pasture can support about eight cows, but not very well. So we sold Big Brother and Mason, (bulls), and Ma Barker and Ma Kettle (cows) . We kept Little Brother and Memphis (bulls) and Precious and Sweetie Pie (cows). Little Brother was always my favorite bull. When I petted his head and ran my fingers through the curls on his forehead, he would lick my arm. His tongue felt like sandpaper on my skin. About a month after the sale, I left home on a light rainy day. I saw Little Brother standing near a tree and that was the last time I saw him alive.

When I got home that night, my husband met me in our driveway and told me that Little Brother and Precious were in the barn dead. They were stacked in their stalls just like they were sleeping. Since it was a rainy day, we decided that lightning must have hit the barn just right. It was too late to do an autopsy, because an accurate autopsy for a cow must happen within six hours of death. The body deteriorates too fast otherwise. A friend brought his backhoe over and buried them about sixty feet deep under the ground behind the barn. That is no small job, because we estimated that Little Brother probably weighed about 2500 lbs., and Precious was almost as big as he. The chain wrapped around their legs was strong enough to drag them to their grave. We spread a sulfur compound in the barn to cover up the stench and fumigate the area.

Memphis and Sweetie Pie seemed to be okay, but they were coughing and their breathing was very ragged. We got some wire and fenced them off in an area near the front of the pasture so that a closer watch could be kept on them. Our veterinarian came by and checked them out, and all was fine. They were eating and drinking okay, so we felt that they would make it okay. Memphis was only about a month old, and even though Sweetie Pie was not his mother, she took him on and let him nurse from her milk bags.

Over the past few years, Sweetie Pie would not let Memphis sire any offspring. We decided that we must have some cows with morals. One time they both got out and wound up with the cattle at a neighbor's farm, so we were hoping that maybe she was in heat when that happened. But, still there was no pitter-patter of little cow feet in our pasture.

Finally, at the end of this summer, we began to suspect that she might be "with cow". She was getting bigger, but we didn't want to jinx her, so we didn't say much of anything about it. Over the past month, it looked like we might actually have a cow baby in our midst. Last Saturday night, we knew it would be "any day now". Sunday morning I looked outside and then ran to wake my husband up. The heifer was out in our thicket and cleaning up a little critter out there. We ran outside and saw our new little calf. He reminded my husband of a bull he once had during his childhood, so we have named him "George", after the bull in his past.

George is doing nicely so far. He is starting to make his little bull noises. And Sweetie Pie is starting to make her mother sounds. When she is addressing the calf, she has this "Mmmmmm" sound. When he hears that, he knows that she wants him to follow her. It's awesome to watch the love between mother and son. Even Memphis has been involved a little in the parenting process. He came up and was nose-to-nose with Little Georgie just minutes after he was born. Good job, kids!

Deer Abbey

2004-12-10T09:36:00.000-06:00

I live out in the country, and our two-story cypress house is the only house on our road. We are surrounded by soybean fields, corn fields, and wheat fields, with several thickets spread throughout the area. The countryside is full of chirping cardinals, mockingbirds, blue jays, owls, and other various birds of a feather. I like to take walks down our road when the weather is nice. It is not uncommon to spook a deer or two when you're walking down the road. A few weeks ago, I saw a fawn wandering on the side of the road near a bean field. She ran into the field to hide and watch me as I drove by. Another time I was driving in between two thickets, and a flock of about fifteen cardinals flew from one side of the road to the other. Absolutely breathtaking! On Wednesday afternoon around dusk, I was headed out to run some errands and just driving along minding my own business. Suddenly, a doe ran out of a field and right in front of my truck. I hit my brakes and missed her by inches. She was a little taller than the hood, so she would have made a big impression on me and the truck if I had hit her. I was a little shaken (not stirred, well a little maybe) and drove on to get the errands done. It's little things like this that make the little commute I have to work worthwhile. Nature at it's finest, right at my home.

And Now, A Quote from Joan Baez

2004-12-07T21:20:00.000-06:00

"You don't get to choose how you're going to die. Or when. You can only decide how you're going to live. Now."

the big picture

2004-12-07T21:10:00.000-06:00

This morning I arrived at my podiatrist's office at the same time he did. I then found out my true purpose in life...helping to pay for a beautiful candy-apple red Corvette. This aggravated me for a while, but then I remembered that he has battled cancer and has won this round. My attitude turned around 180 degrees then. He deserves as many red Corvettes as he can afford. Hell, we should all buy red Corvettes, because most of us have survived some huge obstacle in life that needs to be rewarded.

My foot seems to be healing nicely. My biopsy results show that I have a case of contact dermatitis. I'm not sure what I "contacted" to cause this to happen, so all I can do is keep rubbing in the new cream he prescribed and hope that it never returns. I'm thankful that nothing serious was found. These feet have been a lot of places, and I plan on them going to a lot more places over the next forty or so years.

missing palms

2004-12-03T14:44:00.000-06:00

The other day my Kyocera phone with built-in Palm Pilot decided to play a trick on me. Sometime after lunch, the stylus was missing. I searched everywhere...my desk, in my truck, retracing my steps, but to no avail. I didn't have an extra stylus, so I was going to have to order a new one. Thank God I have fingernails! I was the blonde walking around with her phone and tapping the screen with her index finger. I know it looked funny, but I didn't care. Last night when I got home, I was getting my things out of the truck. I looked over at the passenger's seat, and there, right in the middle of the seat was my missing stylus. Where have you been, my friend, and how did you just reappear out of thin air? I must have found the secret entry door to the Lost and Found division!

Growing Up with Baba

2004-12-02T13:53:00.000-06:00

My first memories of Baba (Czech for "Granny") were associated with the smells of her cooking and her very distinctive voice. She lived with our family and helped raise us kids since our parents worked. And we helped take care of her when she got older too. I remembered being awakened every morning by the slam of our screen door as she walked down the driveway to pick up our morning newspaper. She would then drink a 6-1/2 oz. Coke out of the bottle while taking two aspirin. We always wondered why she had this little ritual. She was helping to keep her blood thin 50 years before modern medicine proved that this was the way to keep your heart healthy.

Next she would start rattling the pots and pans in the cupboard. It was time to brew her morning cup of tea and get breakfast started. I was always scared of that cup of tea because she would tell me that the tea bag was actually a mouse and chase me around the kitchen with it. If it was Friday, she would get her bread dough ready to rise and get her bean soup started cooking and make the noodles. Sometimes we would have haluski on Fridays, and the smell of cabbage and onions would fill the kitchen. As a small child, I would run in and out of the kitchen, checking on the progress of all that she was cooking. Usually around mid-morning, we'd go through the alleyway and wind up over at Aunt Mary's back door a few blocks away for a few minutes so that she could see what they were having for lunch. We'd stick our heads in Uncle Jack's bedroom door and say "Hi" before running home to finish lunch. Uncle Jack was bedridden with arthritis for many years.

Then lunch time finally rolled around. Dad would drive in from the farm and pick Mom up for lunch. Baba and she would watch "As The World Turns" before Dad took Mom back to work. After lunch, Baba would walk to town with my sister Carol and me. We'd go to Sterling's dime store and look at the trinkets. If we were good, she'd buy us some candy to eat on the walk back home. We'd also stop in Belk Jones and do a little window shopping there. Baba had a lot of friends we'd see on our little excursion. She reacted nearly the same way anytime she saw someone she knew. "God damn, son of a bitch, what the hell are you doing here?" was her usual greeting to anyone she met. It didn't matter who it was or their religion. Baptist, Catholic, or Methodist, she greeted them all the same. You just knew that when you saw Baba, that you were going to probably hear a curse word! Other than that, she was a very religious woman, faithfully praying her rosary every night, and you would also see her in line at the confessional every Sunday morning to ask forgiveness before Mass started.

Usually on the way back home from our tour of the town, we'd stop back by Aunt Mary's house. Sometimes we'd find her watching her favorite soap operas. If it was later in the day, Aunt Mary would be relaxing and drinking a beer. Baba liked to have a shot of Old Crow whiskey, and she always took a piece of bread after she took her shot. Maybe that's what her aspirin was for? Late afternoons would find Baba back in the kitchen making supper. We kids would go outside and play. If we were out too long, she would pull a switch off of one of her bushes and come looking for us. If she caught us, we would get swatted on the back of the calf with the switch. We learned to run very fast!

I also remember Baba going to our neighbor's house and swiping tomatoes as she needed them. They gave her their permission to get what she needed, but she would always wait until they were not at home to go get them. I'll always remember the time after her stroke when she was getting around with the aid of a walker. She was missing from the house, and I went to go find her. I looked all over the neighborhood for her, and then I found her, standing in the middle of the Allen's garden, with the walker stuck deep in the mud. I helped her pull it out, but we never did find the rubber stoppers from the bottom of the walker. The pharmacy was very puzzled when we called to order replacements.

I attended Mass with Baba as I was growing up. We always dropped by Aunt Mary's house and picked her up when she needed a ride. This was usually when her daughter-in-law (her usual ride) had to work Sundays at the Riceland Hotel. When I was a teenager, I would sometimes drive Baba to church. One Saturday afternoon we were running just a little late for Mass. The priest was standing at the back of the church putting on his robes when Baba said, "Oh hell! We're late again!" Father smiled and shook his finger at her. I was totally mortified, and my face was about fifty shades of red.

Living with Baba and growing up around her was an experience I wouldn't trade with anyone. She taught me how to cook ("a handful of this, a pinch of that") and embroider and how to pray. She was a strong woman who stood up for what she believed in and taught her family the values they needed to be successful in life. A bowl of her soup and a slice of homemade bread made the world just a little more bearable.

blonde bowling

2004-12-01T22:47:00.000-06:00

Wednesday is my league bowling night. I have a lot of fun at bowling , even though my average is only 98. I bowled my average the first two games, and then bowled really well on the last game and pulled out a 125. Well, 125 is a good score for a genetically inferior female like me, anyway! I had a very "blonde" moment in the second game. I was talking to some friends and listening intently to the music playing from the jukebox, so intently that I walked up to the lane and tried to bowl out of turn . The only excuse that I could come up with was that I'm blonde. One fun thing that I like to do when the lane has problems like the ball didn't return or a lane is stuck on a "180" is when I'm calling in the problem on the intercom, I'll say "by the way, I need fries AND an apple pie with that too!" It's a standing joke between the bowling alley personnel and me. but for someone who has never heard me say that, I really have them going there for a while. I would be totally speechless if they actually did bring me over fries and an apple pie. I'm sure that the look on my face would be like the dog that chases cars, and finally catches one. I'm president of our local women's bowling association, and we never have a dull moment. I even started an annual bowling tournament that we do around the 4th of July where people win prizes for Most Gutter Balls, Lowest Score, Highest Score, Most Splits, and other fun categories that you don't find in a "normal" bowling tournament. I feel that bowling does not need to be serious all the time. If you can't have fun, then why be there in the first place?

coke bottle patterns

2004-12-01T11:39:00.000-06:00

Well, today was the day of reckoning. I removed all of my gauze and bandages, expecting to see all sorts of "war wounds". What I found was three little holes on the size of my foot, resembling the little holes that my grandmother punched into her Coke bottle to sprinkle the clothes with when she was ironing. Most of my pain is gone. But, for all the pain I went through, I expected more blood and guts than what I saw. Am I that much of a wimp? I don't think so anyway...

punch drunk playing footsies in the rain

2004-11-30T15:59:00.000-06:00

Today was going to be a normal day off and I had so many plans for things that I was going to accomplish. It was rainy, so I was planning on working indoors and organizing the house. But my podiatrist changed my plans in just a matter of moments. It was just a routine checkup on what I thought was a foot fungus. I've been using this cream that was prescribed for a few weeks now, but the problem had still not cleared up. After a few minutes of observation, the doctor felt it was best to perform a punch biopsy on the area. So, I lay sideways while he first of all sprayed an aerosol solution that was very cold and froze the side of my foot. Then he inserted a needle full of some sort of anesthesia in my heel. This was painful. I had to look away and close my eyes while taking some very deep breaths and trying not to say the curse words that were forming in my mind. After a few seconds, my foot was entirely numb. Then he took a punch tool and removed a couple of small circular disks of tissue from the surface of the affected area. Then the nurse and he cleaned the foot and bandaged it. I have an appointment in a week and will find out the lab results then. Tomorrow when I take the bandage off, I will rub some antibiotic cream on the wound and cover it with a bandaid. In the meantime, it hurts like hell, so I've been trying to stay off of it the best I can. I still have to make dinner and go to choir practice tonight. I am playing the organ for a Christmas cantata that will be held in a couple of weeks. It seems like I'm always rushing from one project to the next without taking a breather. Such is life in the fast lane...

an alarmingly rainy monday

2004-11-29T16:31:00.000-06:00

Today at lunch I had an extremely "alarming" adventure. I went out to my GMC Jimmy and my keychain did not deactivate my vehicle alarm system. At the same time, my brother John decides to ring my cellphone. So, I talked to him about various things while deciding what to do with my keychain situation. While we were talking, I took apart both of the keychains I had in my purse and cleaned them and put them back together. If this didn't work, I had no choice but to drive over to Radio Shack for new batteries with my alarm screeching. After crossing my fingers and toes and saying a few prayers, I went back outside in the rain and faced reality. The keychains were completely dead. So, I took a deep breath and opened the door manually. The alarm began the cycle of screeching and beeping continuously. Great, it reset. Then I remembered that the guy who installed the alarm told me that after four times of resetting that the alarm would automatically shut off. So, I headed down this highway near work and just kept driving. After the alarm reset three times, I turned around and and started heading back towards town and Radio Shack. After the fourth time of resetting, I breathed a sigh of relief. Then my heart sank as the alarm continued resetting four more times before I reached the mall. There was a moment of silence, so I parked in the middle of the parking lot. As soon as I opened the door, the alarm began sounding again. I walked nonchalantly toward the mall entrance, while people in their cars stared at me and wondered why my alarm continued to go off. I went into Radio Shack and bought and installed the replacement battery in my keychain. I got back to the truck and still the keychain refused to disarm my system. I took the other keychain apart ( losing the screw of course!) and replaced the battery. That keychain didn't work either. So, I hopped back in to the noisy truck and pretended that I was a British bobby, because that was the sound playing in my alarm. People in surrounding vehicles continued to stare, especially when I was stopped at the red light around the corner from where I work, while I blasted some Eric Clapton on the inside. It reminded me of something that you might see on the old "Candid Camera" TV show. I kept a solemn expression on my face the best I could, although the looks on everyone's faces was quite comical. I made my "grand entrance" back at work, not really any better than when I left. After waiting on a few customers, I took the keychains apart again and replaced the screws. Finally one of the keychains cooperated and I was allowed full access to my chariot once again. The only thing that I do wonder about is what would have happened if any police were in the area. What if someone was really stealing my truck? Of course, they would have known how to cut one wire and disable the alarm.

Hello! and Welcome to My World!

2004-11-28T01:26:00.000-06:00

I have always had a very unique outlook on life. My beginnings were anything but ordinary. Even my name has a very unusual story associated with it. JANNA- J (first letter of my dad's name, James) AN (first two letters of my maternal grandmother's name, Annie) NA (first two letters of my paternal grandmother's name, Nannie). Another little known fact is that my middle name is Rose. As a good friend pointed out to me one time, I'm a Rose but nobody knows! I was born early one October 23rd (which makes me a Libra/Scorpio cusp!) Sunday morning (1:50AM) after waiting on my doctor to return home from an Arkansas Razorbacks football game. And the rest is history, as they say...

The Original Abbeygrape

2004-11-27T22:19:00.000-06:00