New Baby

Things got busy yesterday, and this morning we had Sophie Nell weighing in at 7lbs. 7oz. She is a little bruised in the face, but beautiful. Actually, she looks a bit like her daddy. I will give more info later.

Birthday

My family is really not very good with birthdays and such. We are doing good just to remember someone’s birthday on the right day. Oh, we might remember a week before or maybe the day before, but The Day is difficult to remember. We rarely remember to get a card in the mail much less a package. Through the years it has become a family rivalry to remember a birthday and actually call on the right day and be the earliest to call.

Today is my mom’s birthday. I believe she is 75 today. Last night I called her – not to wish her a happy birthday, but to find out what she was doing today and talk about my coming over to see her. She said she was doing her usual routine – exercise at the Sr. Zone, breakfast at McDonalds, and lunch with her friends. She said that I could come have lunch with her and the girls. We made a plan, but then she said, "Well, sometimes on Tuesdays we do not have breakfast at McDonalds." I told her, "Not a problem since tomorrow was Friday, and Mom, it is your birthday." We both started laughing. Of course, she knew it was her birthday, but having been on vacation to RR, she was confused about the day or was thinking about something else. The really funny part is that I get more like her every day. I love the chance to razz her – maybe call her "Aunt Mildred" (family joke).

Then Mom said, "Well Pete already called me." Doesn’t matter! Doesn’t count! The birthday call must be on the birthday. Nana nana, Pete, I already called Mom this morning (victory dance)!

Painting of the Week

With seven girls at art, there is not much room, and I am kept busy. I managed to get this horse done, although it is simple. I have a purpose for the horse and was tickledl to finish it quickly. I'll explain that later. For now, I just want to get this posted. With my slow computer, that is a chore.

Fair Weather Person

Toby went to work this morning (sigh of relief). The man has literally worked my butt off the last few days. We finished the south side of the barn yesterday. The south side is also 60 feet long with a regular door as well as a big door. We had to do some cutting on the metal siding to make everything fit just right. Stopping to cut slowed us down a little. Not having Jesse there to help slowed us down, too. We worked on it Tuesday and Wednesday. Tuesday was a bit chilly, but not too bad. Yesterday the wind was blowing out of the south. Howling is more the word for the wind. It just made things difficult. My body is so sore. I am feeling like an old woman today. Although I did not do nearly the work that Toby did, I am worn out. At one point, Toby sent me up the ladder to drill a screw into the metal while he held the siding. My arm was extended holding the drill (weighs at least five lbs) - trying to push the drill hard to get the screw to go into the metal. My back started cramping up, my arm was breaking off, and the screw was going nowhere. My glasses fogged up with the steam and sweat that started forming on my head. I felt like a weakling. Most of the time, my job was to drill starter holes in the siding and help Toby lift the siding (20 plus feet) onto the side of the barn (my dad once said I was his best "carpenter’s helper). My arms are just noodles today. The good news is that we have two sides up now and one door. There is a sense of accomplishment, and I do love construction work, but I am a fair-weather worker. I only want to work when the weather is perfect.

It reminded me of being a fair-weather skier when we lived in NM. Living in a ski resort town can be great. You can ski on good days when there are no tourists – when the sky is so blue and the snow is so bright and perfect – yeha! When the weather is bad, we did not have to get out. When you are a tourist, you have to ski on the days you have – no matter what the weather is doing. The kids and I use to take Mondays off as "ski days." Actually, the public schools in Northern NM take about five Mondays off starting in January, but they call them "energy saving days. While teaching in Taos, I sponsored the ski club, which let me ski at Taos Ski Area free (Yeha!). Bo and Jesse were both on the Red River Ski Team, so I went to all of the races with the kids. We skied at all of the NM ski areas. Those were the times when we had to ski no matter the weather. There were days when the wind would be howling and the snow blinding. I hated those days. I remember skiing at Santa Fe Ski Area when I could not even see my skis on my feet because the weather was so bad. The things we do for our kids! That is how I felt working with Toby yesterday. We managed to get ‘r done, and it was good. But you know that cold and soreness you feel after coming in from a day of skiing although you had fun? That is how I felt after working on the barn for a few days. I am ready for a day of just being home and doing some art.

Catching Up after Christmas

We got home from Electra about 10:30 last night. Toby’s sisters both live in Electra. The oldest sister has a beautiful home where we usually gather. She is the hospital administrator, and her husband has a small oil company. His other sister works for a windmill company (those giant windmills that produce electricity). Although she has a home in Electra, the windmill company is based out of Austin. She spends a large amount of time traveling for the company. Both sisters are lots of fun and great cooks. They cook a gourmet meal every Christmas serving beef tenderloin grilled on mesquite wood. It is definitely yummy. We play Dirty Santa, which can be fun or Not. This year it was not. I got the gag gift (donkey mask) which I did not think was so funny. Jesse got a belt buckle flask, which she was not too pleased over either. All the guys thought the flask was great, but not great enough to take it from her so that she could get another gift. They told her that the flask was a man magnet guaranteed to get her a husband before next Christmas. She was still not pleased. When one of the cousins offered her five dollars (which she had lost at poker) for the flask, she took the money and was much happier.

Jesse went to work this morning. Toby took today and tomorrow off so that we could work on the barn. Today was a pretty nice day, and we got some work done. When Toby is home it is hard for me to catch any computer time without catching some flack. While he did some welding, I managed to catch up on some house cleaning. I tried to post a blog earlier, but I lost the whole thing – frustrating. I talked to my daughter-in-law and made a plan for the up-coming grandbaby. Sara goes off her medication to stop contractions (contractions have been happening, but the baby was not big enough to enter the world yet) on Thursday. Once she goes of the meds, the contractions could start. We could have a new baby any time after that. Sara thinks we will have the baby by this weekend. Pretty exciting! Sara’s mom (Inpassing) will be in OK City to wait on the baby. I will head up to the City as soon as I get word that the baby is on its way. My job will be to watch the Grand Baby until the new baby arrives. Speaking of the Grand Baby, she called Christmas morning to say “Chris Merry.” Then she said her ABC’s for me. Isn’t she is the smartest, most exceptional grandbaby?

Here is a picture from my Marine cousin in Ramadi.

Christmas Eve

It is amazing how many people took family photo's this year and gave them out as Christmas presents. My fridge is covered with photos, which I love. I hate getting a store-bought Christmas card from someone with no note or picture or something that makes it special. It seems a waist of stamps. Even a generic news letter is better than just a signature. Just sayin.

Jesse, Toby, and I put up the entire north wall on the barn yesterday. We are talking sixty feet of metal sheeting. It was a bit chilly outside too. Jesse and I were worn out. Toby was too, but he was not admitting it. He was hoping to work some more today after church, but Jesse and I had to bake pies and such. It was even colder today, and we really did not want to be barn building. Baking pies was warm and wonderful. We will take the pies to Toby's sisters tomorrow over in Electra, TX. They make a wonderful dinner - beef tenderloin. Jesse and I like to bring some finger food and pies. We will play a dirty santa game and there will be an ongoing game of poker. It is usually a good time.

Mom is in Red River with my older brother and his family. She will have Christmas dinner with old friends, the Tweeds and the Woerndles. I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and your travel time is safe.

Painting of the Week

With the busy season, I only had two art girls yesterday, but one was Sarah and the other was Megan. Megan was one of my art students who got married and moved off, but has now moved back to the area with her husband. It is great to have her back at art. While Sarah and Megan painted, I did this little Christmas card to take to the Art Guild Christmas party last night. Every year the Guild has a party and plays the dirty Santa game. Last night's party was actually pretty interesting. They had entertainment in the form of a flute player - not just any flutes, but a handmade Indian flutes. The man explained how he made the flutes, and he played for us, which was beautiful. It was all very "artsy" and "spiritual" drawing in the artsy folks from the crowd to make spiritual comments. At one point, I made eye contact with my friend Trixie. The look on her face was priceless. It was that sweet Southern woman look that said, "That's nice. Now, shut up so we can hear the music." I had to look away from her to keep from lol.

Lessons

As I said yesterday, my computer and internet has been a mess. I don’t really know what the problem is, but it makes me crazy. I think it is my dial-up connection because I get an error message about not connecting to remote computer. Sometimes I get a message about no answer. Pretty much the message is clear – Go find something else to do, because this ain’t working today. When I am able to get connected, I get bumped off immediately. The kbps at one point yesterday was 2. I have also had trouble going to Blogger. Iiiee, I think I could throw the whole computer out the door. With a patience, I can eventually get connected and stay on, but I keep waiting for the bump.

It would not have been so bad yesterday, but I had procrastinated and needed to look something up on the internet for my art class with Mr. F. Mr. F and his wife are ranchers who live near by. He is retired Army, and he is a blacksmith. A few months ago, he asked me if I would give him drawing lessons to help him with his blacksmithing. Mr. and Mrs. F are very interesting people – the kind of people who seem to love learning. Mr. F soaked up all my knowledge on drawing, practiced on his own, and was a great student. Actually, I thought he drew pretty well without my help. Because he was not really interested in painting or color, after a few months, my lessons were pretty much over. I did not want to take up his time without having something to teach. I wanted to talk to him about design elements and composition principles, which are not so easy to teach, and I needed to look up some teaching ideas on the internet. Here is where the procrastination set in. I waited until Monday to start looking, and my class is on Wed. morning. You already know how my Monday went. Then the computer gave me fits. Finally, the internet stayed connected and I was able to find some lessons. I was running late, but my time with Mr. F went well. We decided that he now “had the tools” to draw and just needed to practice. Lessons are over. It is a relief that I do not have to do "lesson plans", but I will miss my time with Mr. F because he taught me about blacksmithing - very interesting stuff!

On my way to Mr. F’s house, which is across Hwy 7, police were stopping vehicles. Several hours later, they were still stopping vehicles. It turns out that yesterday morning a school bus from Velma was taking a bus load of very young children to the movies to see “Santa Clause 3”. The bus apparently hit the guardrail on one side of the highway, overcorrected, rolled once, and went through the guardrail on the opposite side of the road. It went down a steep embankment (bar ditch) and hit some trees crunching the front of the bus. Out of the forty-plus children on the bus, only one was hurt critically. The others were treated and released – that was pretty incredible considering the wreck.

All of the kids were taken to the Duncan hospital where doctors checked them out. Bubba, a young man from our church, told me that he had driven one of the ambulances to the hospital. Then a school bus brought the rest of the kids. He said he was standing at the hospital when the bus pulled in and the kids unloaded. Bubba said there was a little boy from Loco, whom he had seen a few times, but did not know at all. When the little boy saw Bubba standing there, he came running, threw his arms around Bubba, and said, “I knew you would be here!” Bubba said, “He just hugged me and cried. He was really scared.”

I can just see Bubba, who is a really cool dude, standing there holding this little boy. It is funny how a familiar face can be so comforting. Good for you, Bubba!

Problemas

My computer is giving me fits. Yesterday and this morning it has bumped me off so many times that I forget whether I am on or off. It is making me crazy. I just want to get a short message on before I get kicked off again.

I did mangage to get an email from an old Red River friend. He saw my blog and emailed me. This is someone whom I have not heard from in over 30 years. It is one of Frank and Polly's grandsons, James. Good to hear from you, James. Stay in touch.

Dreams and Stuff

Last night I dreamed I was trying out for cheerleader. There was an interview part to the tryouts wearing a formal dress. Then of course there would be the jumping and hollering part of the tryouts. Lindsay was in my dream and so was Paula Bell who was actually a cheerleader at my high school. As dreams go, it was all very strange. I kept trying to jump up and touch my toes without falling on my head – while wearing my formal. Yet, I seemed to be worried about the interview and was constantly telling myself that I knew as much as those other girls. Then I realized that I needed to be wearing shorts and T-shirt for the actual tryout, not my formal, but I could not find the right shorts and shirt. I kept asking what time all of this started, and I was running late. Lindsay was trying to help me, but problems kept arising.

I’m not sure why I dreamed about cheerleading, but the dream was a typical anxiety dream – I could not get myself together, but I was about to be judged. It could be that things have been busy. It could be that I still feel like I need to be more organized in my life – diet and organization being my big problems. It could be just left over anxiety from spending the day with Mom. It definitely gave me that feeling that I could do better and I needed to get going.

Soldier Stuff
Last week, I spent a good part of my time in town searching for New Years Eve party stuff for my soldier. I thought it would be nice to send him some noisemakers, streamers and party hats – just for fun. At the Cornerstone gift store in downtown Duncan, I asked the owner if she knew of any place in town that carried such stuff. She made a suggestion, but said I would probably have to go to Lawton. I mentioned that it was for my soldier and that I needed to get it in the mail ASAP. Then she did something that surprised me. She went over to her display of Burt’s Bees items and handed me several lip balms. She said, she wanted me to put them in my package to my soldier. It was such a little thing, but she was very sincere and wanted to give something. It was a not something I had asked for, but something she did on her own. There are some really nice people out there. Just thought I would share the good stuff.

Speaking of soldiers, Tim Boggs who returned from Iraq in time for Thanksgiving, will be on the Hugh Hewitt radio show December 27th. Tim has the details of how to find the radio show in your area. It would probably be an interesting program.

Oh What a Day

I majored in art, not business. I married an accountant. I have two brothers and a brother-in-law that were business majors. Someone can just mention business, futures, taxes, insurance, etc. and my eyes glaze over and I become the typical dumb blonde. For some odd reason, it is me that Mom comes to with questions on insurance, business and banking. Today, when I walked in her back door, she handed me about six different bank statements and said something was wrong with her business account. Sure Mom, let me go to the bathroom first and then I’ll just put on my “old folks” glasses and take a look. All the while, she is telling me about her deposits and problems with her accounts. Then she says, “And something is wrong with my car.” So I say, “Call Patterson’s to see if they can get your car in today while I look at these statements.” She calls, she gives them her car, make and model, she tells them about the sound it is making, and tells them she is going on vacation on Friday and needs her car fixed by then, plus the oil changed and tires rotated. Then it turns out she was talking to the receptionist wanting to direct her call, and she has been put on hold. It makes Mom crazy. So I say, “Maybe you should wait until they ask you specific questions.” Mom says, “Well, she said, ‘how may I help you?’” I say, “Give me that phone!”

Best I can tell, Mom has two separate business accounts when she is only suppose to have one. When Dad died, we closed one account with his name and opened a new one with Mom’s name, but there is definitely a problem. We gather up the statements to head to the bank to get this mess straightened out – after dropping off the car at Patterson’s. We have several “discussions” on the best route to the bank. Before getting to the bank, Mom realizes she is supposed to be at the AARP luncheon. Good thing I took the wrong turn, because now we are headed in the right direction for the luncheon at Piccadilly Cafeteria. I don’t mind eating with the AARP folks – it might be good experience for future references. I seem to be getting older by the minute. As we set down with our trays at the cafeteria, Mom points out that the nurse at the corner table will take my blood pressure free. I say, “No thanks, my blood pressure is probably sky high while I am visiting you.” She laughs out loud. After eating, I skip out to do some shopping in the mall. I walk all over the mall thinking Mom will be ready to go when I get back, but I am mistaken. The meeting is still going on. I get there in time to see the new officers installed and take pictures of them for the president. The man who is installing the officers decides to give a little speech on how the government is out of touch with the people – social security does not pay enough and senators still get paid even after they have a stroke and are no longer working. My eyes are not glazed over, but seriously twitching. Then we sing a few Christmas carols and the party breaks up.

It was on to the bank. I won’t go into detail, but eventually (tow separate trips to the bank) we got everything taken care of. Well, there is that missing check...but oh well. Mom went with me to run some errands (Market Street and Harbor Freight). I bought her a coffee latte mocha peppermint at Starbucks. We finished our latte’s just in time to go pick up her car from the “garage” as Mom calls it. It was really a very funny day. We both felt frazzled, but yet we got lots accomplished. I think my brothers owe me – big time!

Painting of the Week

Left Press

Years ago I subscribed to World Magazine. After letting my subscription lapse last year (simply because I was busy), I recently renewed it. I really like this magazine and will probably share their articles with you from time to time. Keep in mind that although they are a conservative news magazine, which most of you will like, they are also a Christian magazine, and some of you may not always agree with their views. Still, they have some interesting things to say.

Wednesday night while watching Charlie Gibson on ABC News, I became irate when ABC reported from a Jordan prison where they interviewed convicted men who had been caught (and convicted) as terrorist in Iraq. ABC showed these men telling why they hated America. The men who were interviewed were not necessarily Iraqis, but were Arab men from different Middle East countries. One man said he felt he needed to fight Americans in Iraq before Americans came to his country too. There were other interviews, and I was furious. I looked at Toby and said, "Why are they interviewing convicted killers of innocent people? Who the hell cares what those men think of America!" I tell you, it is enough to make a preacher cuss.

Then while reading my "World Magazine" I came across this article by Marvin Olasky called "Press to the Left". Olasky gives his opinion of some of the worst news reporting this year:

Each year for the past 19 I've served as a judge for the Media Research Center's awards for the year's worst journalism. The winners will be announced any day now, and on my ballot MSNBC's Keith Olbermann and Newsweek's Eleanor Clift are two of the leading candidates.
Olbermann said on Sept. 11, at the site of the World Trade Center, "Who has left this hole in the ground? We have not forgotten, Mr. President. You have. May this country forgive you." On Oct. 18 he announced that the Bush administration is "more dangerous to our liberty than is the enemy it claims to protect us from."
Clift, declaring on April 7, "There's nothing this administration won't do under the guise of battling terrorism," called for Americans to "stop Bush's imperial expansion of power." But Clift on July 15 said Russia's Vladimir Putin has "a commanding popularity among his own people, because he is perceived to be an effective dictator. What we have in this country is a dictator who's ineffective."
Imperialism and dictators: Los Angeles Times columnist Joel Stein wrote on Jan. 24, "I don't support our troops. . . . When you volunteer for the U.S. military . . . you're willingly signing up to be a fighting tool of American imperialism." CNN's Jack Cafferty on May 11 said that Senate Judiciary Committee head Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), who had criticized the Bush administration, "might be all that's standing between us and a full-blown dictatorship in this country."

The article went on to quote some more humorous statements:

WORLD has covered the starvation in North Korea brought about by a real tyrant, but ABC's Diane Sawyer, reporting from a school there on Oct. 19, said, "It is a world away from the unruly individualism of any American school. . . . Ask them about their country, and they can't say enough." The clip showed a North Korean girl saying, in English, "We are the happiest children in the world."
Later, Sawyer said to the class: "You know The Sound of Music?" Children's voices chorused, "Yes." Sawyer then sang with the class: "Do, a deer, a female deer. Re, a drop of golden sun . . ." Anchor Charles Gibson intoned, "A fascinating glimpse of North Korea."

I saw Diane Sawyer’s report and thought, "Who could take such and idiot seriously?" A few weeks ago, Sawyer interviewed an American Iman (forgot his name). When she asked what he thought were some reasons that Muslims hate America, he answered that America needed to stop making politcial decisions based on bringing about the return of Christ. Hmm, interesting! I thought that the logical response to the Iman’s statement would be to ask, "Other than our support for Israel, what political decisions has America made to bring about the return of Christ?" But Diane never batted an eye at the ridiculous statement by the iman. So we will never know why he said such a thing, which he obviously thought was the heart of America’s problems with Muslims.

You probably wonder why I watch ABC News and GMA at all. Good question!

Music and Stuff

Ray Wylie Hubbard will be in OK City this Friday night. My son sent me an email letting me know of the event. I guess I am getting old because I really balk at spending $20.00 a head on hearing Ray Wylie. I knew Ray when he was just Ray Hubbard, boy from Dallas. He and his two friends, Wayne Kidd and Rick Fowler had a trio back in the late 60’s - early 70’s in Red River. They called themselves The Three Faces West and had a little place called The Outpost where they entertained nightly. Before the Outpost, they sang for their supper at one of the local cafes and drove jeeps (guided tours) in RR. Rick and Ray rented a room at our lodge during the summers. I was about nine, maybe ten years old, and they were teenagers at the time. We also had several girls living with us who were waitresses at various cafes in town. I called these girls my summer sisters. They often dated Rick, Ray, and Wayne, so I had a crush on the R,R&W too.
R,R&W had another high school friend named Michael Murphy – that was before he added Martin as his middle name. He spent some time in RR, and they all shared songs that they had written. Some of you may not know it, but M M wrote a medley of songs called "The Ballad of Calico" that was recorded by Kenny Rogers and the First Edition back before Kenny was all that popular. It was through R,R&W that other musicians showed up in Red River – guys like Jerry Jeff Walker, Gary P. Nunn, Bob Livingston, Steven Fromholz and yep, Neil Young who sang at my wedding reception. The Red River entrepreneurs learned pretty quickly that these young musicians were a way to bring people to the valley and therefore make money. Bill and Bonnie Hearne lived and sang for many years in RR. My brother was their driver and bass player for a while (good thing they were blind ‘cause Craig is a sorry driver). They are still the king and queen of folk music if you ask me. When people like Lyle Lovett join them on an album, I would say they were the deal. TZ Wright was a regular for a few years in RR. He actually sang "The Wedding Song" at my wedding, and it was his band that Neil Young joined in with at the reception. Bill Hearne’s nephew, Mike Hearne, has a fantastic band called South by Southwest. They have been around Northern NM for years now. Mike and band also played with Michael M Murphy for a short time. I should also mention my ex-sister-in-law; Tish Hinijosa was another musician that did quite well in RR. She sang with Mel Tillis in her early days and did some music with Emmy Lou Harris. I will admit she is a very talented musician. There were probably other famous musicians that made their way through RR at some time – it was just that sort of town.

Ray Wylie Hubbard moved on to bigger and better things by the mid-70’s. A musician named Steve Howard took his place at the Outpost. Steve is still in NM and has a great album out. Rick Fowler still lives in RR and sings and paints for a living. In my opinion, Rick is actually the most talented of all the musicians mentioned above. Wayne Kidd is also still in Northern NM. He is the associate pastor and music leader at Faith Mountain Church in RR. M M Murphy lives in Taos, NM, as does Mike Hearne and his band, South By Southwest. If you are in the area, definitely try to catch Mike somewhere. If you are in Santa Fe, you can hear Bill Hearne, but Bonnie has been in poor health recently and does not play with him as much. They still like to do the Kerrville Folk Festival in May.

My brother and I grew up listening to my dad’s Bob Wills records but not much else in our house. Our music interests were greatly influenced by the musicians hanging out in the mountains – so much so, that Craig became a musician, married one, and is now an entertainment lawyer in Austin. Craig still introduces me to new and good music, which I love him for. Our growing up years in RR were lots of fun. My mom thought growing up in the mountains was ideal for us kids. In lots of ways it was, but every mom should consider sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll still go together.

Blogger Friends

When I look back at my first posts over a year ago, I had very few comments – very few readers. That was okay with me because I was just intrigued with writing a blog and putting down my personal stories and views. While we were building our house, my blogs were very funny stories about my family, but very few people read them. My little brother said he loved my funny stories, but not my personal views on politics and religion (It is just like a Barker to only want to read the fun stuff). I enjoyed reading all sorts of blogs especially the miliblogs, but I liked reading about other people’s lives and views. As I left comments on other blogs, I came to know other bloggers and made good friends.

Sometimes I have given my blogsite to someone, and they never said another word about my blog. I assumed they did not read my blog, because I did not hear from them. Some email me with comments, but do not have an account with blogger. I have given my blogsite to some good friends who never read my site. That is okay with me. Some read my blog for a little while and maybe got bored or disagreed with my views and quit reading it. That is okay with me too. My blog is mostly fluff and stuff – not the serious news stuff that others write – so it is not really exciting. After almost two years of writing this blog, my cousin (the Marine’s mom) asked me, "What is a blog?" In October when the reporter was interviewing me about my art, she asked me what else I liked to do. I told her several times, "I have a blog." She totally ignored me, did not ask me anything about my blog, and never mentioned it in her article. I assume that she did not really understand blogging. Maybe not understanding blogs is the reason other friends do not read my blog.

This blog has been a way of keeping up with old friends and meeting new ones. I absolutely love it. I know I have a small following of friends and family and new blogger friends who read my posts, but it just floors me when I discover someone reading my blog that I never knew was doing so. Yesterday, I posted that I needed snail-mail addresses so that I could send out Christmas cards hoping that my loyal readers would send me their addresses. I was very pleasantly surprised when I got an email from my good friend, Annette, in Red River with her address wanting a Christmas card. I mentioned Annette’s husband a few posts back when I mentioned working in RR at Texas Red’s Steak House and Bill Gill putting us through college. Last summer while I was in RR for my family reunion, I was having a fairly rough time of things trying to make the reunion run smoothly. I had an old friend chew me out and threaten to kill my little rat terrier and another old friend act like she had no time for me. These ladies had been friends since childhood and I was hurt. Then I went to Annette’s house, which is a beautiful log cabin overlooking the town of RR. I spent over two hours just visiting with Annette, who made me feel like I was someone special and that she was glad to see me. It was the best two hours spent with anyone in RR in a long time. I gave Annette my blogsite, but I never knew she was reading me. Thanks Annette, you are a special lady.

On a different note all together, I have some sad news. Last week, my cousin wrote that her Marine son, Capt. Jim in Ramadi, was very upset with the death of a close friend. Then she told me that the close friend was Major Megan McClung. Megan was the fiancée of one of Jim’s groomsmen in his wedding last July. Read Michael Fumento for a little more info on Major McClung. She must have been someone very special. There was also a bit about her on ABC News last night. My heart goes out to her family, her friends, and her fiancée.

First Date

Speaking of Joe Ely, I thought I would share a little bit of my history with you. My first date with Toby was about this time in December thirty years ago - yep, our "first date" anniversary. I cannot remember the actual date; it was about the second week of December and before Tech let out for Christmas break. Although I had met Toby my first night at Texas Tech, we did not actually go out on a date until December. I met him in August at a mutual friend’s birthday. It was Brad Seymore’s birthday. Brad was a jeep driver in Red River who was from Lubbock. There was a group of us that had made friends in RR over the summer (my big brother, Craig, included), and we all ran together at TT. Toby had gone to high school with Brad in Lubbock – so he joined our group. On my first night at TT, my buddy Anny and I dolled up and headed to the Saddle Bronc for Brad’s birthday. Toby was there with a date. He sat right across the table from me, but does not remember meeting me (you can tell I made a big impression on him). His date was rather silly, and he had this incredibly stupid line he was using on her. I was awed. The next day, I asked my brother if "that guy" was married to "that girl" because who would put up with such a stupid line unless they were married. Craig just laughed at me and said that no, Toby was not married to that girl. In fact, she was no one important – just a date. After that first meeting, Toby was included in our group of partiers all the time. We would all meet at Brad’s house and go clubbing from there. We would usually go to the Saddle Bronc, Cow Palace, Bigger'n Dallas, or Cotton Club. Toby never asked me to dance in all the time we ran in the same crowd – this probably intrigued me more than anything. At one point, I told my brother to tell Toby that I wanted a date with him. In typical male fashion in the middle of some conversation with Toby, Craig said, "By the way, my sister wants a date with you." Toby was still not impressed with me and chose to ignore Craig. Later, Toby told me that he had thought I was "prissy." I’m not sure Toby knew the meaning of "prissy." I think he thought I was a "prude" and he had no time for me. I was considered "cute", but not "foxy." Being Craig's little sister could have had something to do with his decision. Eventually, Brad wanted a date with one of my friends. He got Toby to ask me out on a double date to insure that my friend would say yes to Brad. And so, the date was set to go to the Cotton Club to hear Joe Ely.

Toby and Brad picked Denise and me up at my dorm driving Toby’s Dad’s Lincoln Continental. Toby was driving, and he had his beer balanced on the steering wheel (yep he was drinking and driving, but it was the old days). I said, "That beer is going to fall off." He said, "It never falls off." About that time, it fell off into the floorboard. It made me laugh much to his chagrin. The Cotton Club was a large metal building on the outskirts of Lubbock. It was BYOB, and Toby brought Lord Calvert and 7UP (I’m a one-beer sort of girl). We met up with the rest of our group to dance to Joe Ely, who was a regular at the CC, as well as Tommy Hancock and other members of his family band. We all had a great time. I can remember feeling very comfortable with Toby (even before the Lord Calvert). He felt the same way. We danced to Joe Ely and had a great time. Later, Toby took me back to my dorm and walked me across the huge lawn to the front door where I very gracefully threw up. Well, he didn’t think I was "prissy" any more. More importantly, he asked me out again.

We went out once more before I left for Christmas break in Red River. Toby and Brad came up to RR for a few days during the break, and we went out again. When Christmas break was over, I returned to TT. The first night back, I headed to the Cow Palace (Wednesday night was ladies’ night). I made a tour through the dancers and then walked into the pool (billiards) room to see who all was out and about. First, I ran into a guy named Mark, whom I had dated during the previous semester. I asked him to come dance with me, but he said no, that he was busy playing pool. He was pretty much an egotistical jerk. Next, I ran into Toby, who grabbed me up, gave me a big hug, and swung me around excited to see me. I asked him to come dance with me. He said he couldn’t because he had money, a challenge, up on a pool table. So, I followed him over to the pool table, and sure enough, he was playing Mark. I took a seat to watch. Both guys thought I was there to watch him. Both guys came over and talked to me in between turns. It was awkward. Toby won the pool game, shook Mark’s hand, and took the challenge money. Mark reached into his wallet and said, "Hey that was a great game. Let’s play again." Toby walked over to me, took me by the hand, and said, "No, I have better things to do" and we walked off together to dance the night away. I was hooked.

Christmas Cards

I need to get my Christmas cards in the snail-mail. Contact me with your address if want a card - they are my paintings of the week. I recently updated my profile to include an email address.

Another Favorite

I mentioned on my earlier post that Hoyt Axton was one of my favorite songwriters. My favorite Axton song was probably "Della and the Dealer", but there were lots of great songs and great lines. Another favorite songwriter is Guy Clark. Just reading through his bio on Wiki. is like reading a list of "Lou's favorite songs and singers". My older brother introduced us to Steve Earle (mentioned on the site) the year we opened our cafe. Anytime I hear Steve Earle, I am taken back to the cafe days and rocking out in the kitchen with Craig, Toby, and whoever else was working. The fact that Guy Clark is a West Texas boy probably endears him to me as much as anything. When we were all in college at Texas Tech, we spent lots of time at the Cotton Club hearing amazing local talent. Later we transfered to SWTSU in San Marcos, TX, where we listened to George Strait at Cheatum Street Warehouse and the Skate Skeller before he became famous. George was pure country and great. We were use to wilder songs of Guy Clark, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Gary P. Nunn, Jerry Jeff Walker and Joe Ely. Those were the good old days of country music mixed with the rebellion of rock. Today's country is just mush and silliness.

Just Stuff

It was a bit of a wild weekend. Toby took a half-day off on Friday so that he could get some work done on the storehouse. It was so cold that I did not go out and help him, as I normally like to do. He just had a few little things he wanted to do on framing up the wall. It would have required a lot of standing around time for me, and it was just too cold (yeah right). That evening we had a date night. We drove to Lawton to eat at Outback since we had a gift card that needed to be used. Outback was not too busy when we got there, but was packed to the rafters before we left – lots of people waiting to be seated, but it was too cold to wait outside. From Outback we went to Starbucks (I though of you, Buck). Toby and I felt very cool and chic drinking my coffee latte with a touch of hazelnut and his double espresso. I told Toby that I wished I had a "desktop" to bring to Starbucks like all of the other computer geeks. I immediately realized that I meant to say "laptop". Toby and I got pretty tickled at the idea of me carrying in my desktop. After Starbucks we headed to Hastings to look through the books and music. I bought a novel and we headed home.

Jean Kirkpatrick died on Friday. Did anyone notice that she was born in Duncan, OK. I thought that was pretty interesting. Famous people do come from Duncan. Hoyt Axton is also from Duncan, and I think he is one of the best songwriters ever.

Saturday, I babysat the Grand Baby while Bo worked with Toby. They unloaded the sheet metal for the barn, which was a big job. They also got part of the wall put up on the storehouse. The storehouse is on the north side of our carport. Already, the wall is helping to block the cold north wind while entering the house. The Grand Baby and I had a grand time. When you come to Boo Boo’s house, you learn to paint. I got out a child’s watercolor kit and let Lizzie have at the paints. She did very well; although, she did paint the dog’s nose (with my permission) and her own nose (without my permission). Jesse took a video of her looking over at me to see if I was watching her. I was not watching, so she painted her fingernails. We also baked cookies and played outside with all of the animals. I was worn out that evening.

Sunday was typical. The Grand Baby is not well behaved in church and it becomes a wrestling match. After church we went to eat with the Bo and Sara and wild thing – more wrestling. Then, we went to the other grand parent’s house with the Grand Baby – more wrestling. I was more than ready to kick back and rest by the end of the day.

Jesse went to all of her parties and to the Dallas game. She seemed to have fun everywhere she went, but I do not have the scoop on things. I did not sleep well last night knowing that she was traveling back from Dallas. She and Lindsay got home about 2 AM. You would think that I would have slept better once they got home, but I was wide-awake for another hour or so. They overslept this morning (surprise, surprise) and had to hustle to get to work on time. I don’t feel very sorry for them.

Now I am off to town to do the Wal-Mart scene – yeha! I have been thinking about some new things to blog on - just not today.

Painting of the Week

Around Christmas each year I have my art students paint Christmas cards. I ususally paint several in order to show them how the cards will look. This gives the kids a chance to try watercolor and several wc techniques which they love. They also love making the actual card and having something special to send to grandma. The cards look very professional. These are three cards that I painted. We also listen to Christmas music while we paint. Yesterday, Sarah Ann painted a snowman with a cardinal on the snowman's hat. She sang along with the Christmas music, and was thrilled when I gave her a gift of an Anne Murray Christmas CD. She may be my oldest, longest running student, but her child-like joy at such simple things makes all of the art girls happy. She just sets an up-beat tone for the rest of us. Those that were not painting Christmas cards wished they had after watching Sarah Ann. Yes, Lindsay, she is my favorite student - only because you don't come nearly enough now that you are a working girl. You know I love all of my students - each have their special way.

Toby's office had their Christmas party at the Chuckwagon yesterday. I got invited because I donated a painting to put in the office kitchen. Jesse went with Lindsay to the Kelpro partly last night. Tonight, Lindsay will go with Jesse to the Halliburton Christmas party. Saturday night, Lindsay is having her own party. Sunday, they both go to the Dallas/Saints game. Party, party, party!

Better Picture

Yesterday I planned on posting pictures of my pets, but I had such trouble uploading the pictures that I finally gave up. I am going to try again today with a better picture. This is Jesse in a snowball fight at work last week in the big snow storm. Hmm, I wonder if they ever really work at Halliburton. I wonder who started this snowball fight. She said that she and some coworkers built a snowman during Wednesday's snow. On Thursday while waiting for Toby to pick her up, Jesse said she threw a snowball at a man walking out of the building. She said he was looking nerding with his briefcase in hand. Apparently, he put his briefcase down, made a snowball, and threw it back at Jesse. She has this sort of contagious joy for life. I think whoever took this picture caught that joy pretty well.

Cats and Dogs

Mom always said, "If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all." What if you don’t have anything interesting to say? Is it the same or should you keep writing and maybe something will come to you? I think it is the latter. Keep plugging along, and maybe something will inspire you. You never know when a good painting will happen. Something is better than nothing. Writing should be the same way. One must stay in practice. Use it or lose it. Right? See, a whole paragraph pretty much about nothing!

I thought I would let you see the softer side of me today. My dad once said that if there is such a thing as reincarnation, he wanted to come back as one of my pets. With this last snow-thunder storm and cold weather, I let our "outside dog", Rita, inside the house. She is a cow-dog (Border Collie/Australian Shepherd). I had to drag her in because she never comes in the house. Last year at this time, Rita had puppies, and we had her a doghouse and warming pad, but she does not like the doghouse anymore (could be that there was a snake living under it last summer, which I found when I moved it). She has been a very good dog in our house. When she comes in, she just goes to her blanket on the floor. That was a week ago. We have continued to let her in this week with temperatures so cold at night. This morning Rita was on the couch. I’d say she had adjusted to being an "inside dog" fairly quickly.

I also have a rat terrier, Ranger, who stays in the house all of the time. He is the spoiled baby. Every morning after Toby and I get out of bed, Ranger snuggles back down in the covers. He would be under the covers if we would let him. Toby got me a rat terrier because I wanted a pink poodle. He said that poodles were not farm dogs. I insisted that a poodle was still a dog and would be fine on the farm. I wanted a pink poodle that I could name Ruby Tuesday. Toby got me a rat instead. I have been in love every since (but I still think pink poodle would be okay on a farm).

Then there is the cat, Felina (Wicked Felina). She is a Manx (tailless) who comes in every morning, eats a little dog food, and curls up for the day on Jesse’s bed. She is pretty much Jesse’s cat, and she is very cool like a cat should be.

Two dogs and a cat are really not very many animals for me. My brother has more pets than I do, and I must keep up with the Barkers. We actually have some other cats, but they do not come very close (barn cats), and we have three horses. I could have a zoo and be happy. "Lou’s Zoo" has a nice ring to it don’t you think?

I have been trying to post some pictures, but so far it is not happening. I will try again, but it may not happen today.

The Goat Woman

It is odd how things happen sometimes. Yesterday, I went with my mom to a doctor’s appointment. While we were sitting in the waiting room, I picked up the only magazine near by, which happened to be a "People Magazine". The magazine was a few weeks old, but I was just killing time, flipping through the pages. I don’t normally read "People". Toward the back of the magazine there was an article on a woman named Kaziah Hancock who paints pictures of soldiers who have died in Iraq. Apparently, she felt such sorrow for a family who lost their son; she wrote to them and asked for pictures of him so that she could paint his portrait. Now, she has several other artists giving their time and talents to do other paintings of soldiers. I did not have time to read the whole article, but this morning I looked her up online. I was quite impressed with her paintings, but more impressed by her compassion and willingness to give something to the families of fallen soldiers. You know what a fan I am of Michael Fay and his soldier paintings. Kaziah’s paintings are quite good too, but scrolling down through the gallery on this website is very sobering. It is worth the time to see her website.

The name of her site, Kaziah the goat woman, sort of threw me. It reminded me of one of my wacko neighbors in Northern NM who would make some moonbats seem normal. I have mentioned some of my neighbors in prior posts. You remember the area where we lived had once been a Buddhist commune of people called "Hermanites" - until Herman the Guru slept with several of the wives in the commune. Also there was the neighbor, L. Wiseman, who changed her name to L. Wisewoman after her divorce. One neighbor, in particular, we called "the goat-woman" because she had a herd of goats that she kept. She said they were good pack animals for hiking. She was quite horrified that we used our goat for Jesse to practice her "goat tying" which is a rodeo event for girls. In a very haughty voice, Sylvia the goat woman asked, "Do you think your goat likes being tied?" We just answered yes, but did not tell her we were planning on eating the goat after rodeo season.

I almost did not pause to look at the article because of my association with the crazies in NM. Do not let the website title confuse you. This woman seems to be someone who wants to show her love for our troops.

Restless in Duncan

The disorganized feeling that I had a few months ago is back. It may be because we have several unfinished projects going. It may be that I am not getting everything done that I would like to get done. Maybe there is something to that computer addiction thing discussed at Buck’s. I do spend lots of time on the computer. Maybe if I had a faster computer, I would spend less time waiting on this one. Excuses, excuses! I just need to set priorities and stick to them. In some areas of my life, such as art, I seem to be doing well. Diet and exercise are falling by the wayside. Oh well, it will all come together - Just feeling that need for things to run smoother – a little restless.

Today, I am headed over to my mom’s. She has been thinking about buying a different house – one in a better neighborhood. If you noticed the house in the post a few days ago, you will see that it is an older home in an older neighborhood. The back of the house backs up to an alley and an old abandoned shopping center. There are more than a few odd folks hanging around. Last year there was the big drug bust at the house across the street from Mom’s house. And there have been some drive-by shootings in past years on her street. She has been in this house for 30 years. So we all are use to it – sort of. We would all like to see Mom in a better area, but I think all of us are resigned to do whatever Mom wants. My cousin has offered her his mother-in-law’s house in the same neighborhood where my brother lives. That would be great, but the bad news is that the house needs lots of work. There are lots of things to consider here. I hate making big decisions, mulling over the pros and cons. Maybe it is time to discuss some of these things with Mom. Maybe it is time to poke myself in the eye.

Rider Raiders won their game against El Paso this last weekend. It looks like they may play in Lubbock next weekend. I will let you know. Speaking of football, Jesse is going to the Cowboys Vs. Saints game next weekend. She has already started the round of Christmas parties. It is a good season in her life.

Rider Raiders

My nephew, Oliver, has had a great senior year as the kicker for the Rider Raiders. The Raiders travel this weekend to San Angelo to play a team from El Paso. Yep, they have made it to the playoffs. Here is a recent picture of the team. Oliver is no. 14. Good lookin' kid, no?

Painting of the Week

I chose this cowgirl because she reminded me of my friend, Lynda Donnithorne. Lynda was a cowgirl deluxe. We had some great times together. Lynda died a few years ago from cancer. Sometimes the watercolor paper gives me some problems and does not absorb the water/paint very well. I had such problems with this little painting. I have also had problems with my phone line and my computer this morning. Very frustrating. TGIF