Winter Storm

This picture was taken about 5:30 PM. This is the view out my living-room windows of the pond and field. It is snowing, blowing, and cold. Toby drove Jesse to work today so that I would not worry about her. They got off work this evening a little early because the weather was not getting better, but they said it was not too bad - "a little slick". I made etoufee (sp?) for supper while I listened to Christmas music. I let our outside dog, Rita, inside today. She has never been in the house and was rather confused, but adapted quickly. We are weathering the storm just fine. It is quite cozy in our little house. Come on by for some coffee.

Christmas Past

Most of my memorable Christmases were in Red River, NM. Although RR would seem to be a fairytale place for Christmas, it is often not for those who live and work there. Life in a resort town is about making tourist happy which usually means that you are working your tail off on holidays. Still, with the snow and the mountains and the small village atmosphere, Christmases were pretty magical.

My parents owned the Green Mountain Lodge when I was younger. The lodge had a large lobby area with a fireplace and several sitting areas. We usually put up a good size Christmas tree in the lobby next to the picture window facing Main Street. On Christmas Eve, many of us town kids gathered at the lodge to go caroling. Walking down Main St. in the snow with a bunch of kids laughing and singing almost sounds too picture perfect, and it was. Later, we would make our way back to the lodge to drink hot chocolate and play games. Sometimes we picked up a few tourist kids on our way and made new friends. My family got up early on Christmas morning to open presents. I still have a hard time sleeping on Christmas Eve – too much excitement. Stockings were my favorite things, because my Dad got a big kick out of finding very odd things to put in the stockings including fruit and candy. We were usually finished with the presents quickly, and then we went skiing before the ski area got too crowded. The ski season usually got going on Christmas Day. As soon as Texas schools let out for the holidays, the town of RR filled up. The week from Christmas to New Years was unbelievably busy. The town of RR is about 300 people year around, but it swells to 3000 during Christmas. Town folk do not get to ski that week – they are busy in their lodges and restaurants or working at the ski areas. With the town full of people, every year the electricity would go out about 5:00 PM on Christmas and New Years. Why? Because everyone in town got off the slope and hit the showers, drying their hair, fixing dinner or getting ready to go out to dinner. It was too much for the electric lines. I think I was 20 something before that little glich was fixed. It made for an interesting time at the local restaurants.

Most of my Christmases as a teenager/young lady were spent working. I usually worked as a waitress. It was a way to make some money to ski and be in RR. It was also the way to work yourself through school. We used to joke that Bill Gill at Texas Red’s Steak House probably put more kids through college than most college loan businesses. The town of RR used to have lots of college age kids working there – ski instructors as well as restaurant help. Often, we would get together after hours for our holiday parties. That was a wild time in River City.

As a grown woman living in RR, things changed somewhat. The caroling days were over. Christmas was mostly work – the beginning of busy season. Skiing with the crowd was not my idea of fun anymore. Toby ran a garbage company – can you guess what the busiest day for trash was? Christmas week was also one of the coldest times of the year – can you guess what the cold did to a trash truck? But RR did have one Christmas tradition that I absolutely loved. A week or so before Christmas, the whole town of RR came together for a potluck dinner at the Community House. The Women’s Club provided the meat and decorations while the people brought everything else. The place was packed to the rafters with tables, food, and people. People that you might not see any other time of the year came out for the town Christmas dinner. The school kids put on a Christmas play and Santa showed up to take pictures and make a list. One year Jesse played Mary (she was five years old). She got in a bit of a squabble with Joseph who was giving her some instruction which she did not particularly care for (some things do not change). We caught it all on video. Bo, being a few years older, usually had a big part in the play, and he was always perfect in his part. Those are some great memories. You know how I love a party and how I love friends. The town dinner was just awesome and one of the things I miss about living in the pines.

Last year after Dad died, I encouraged Mom to go to the Town Christmas dinner in RR. She did, and had a great time. Seeing all of those people, who loved Dad and her, was just healing.

A Different Sort of Celebration

Here is a picture of Bo and Toby swinging the Grand Baby in a laundry basket. Jesse made a video of this fun time with the Grand Baby hollering, "Look Mama, Look Booboo! I swing! I fast!" Who needs expensive toys when a laundry basket is a wonderful toy?

It has been T-shirt weather here in OK, lately. Although the wind has been blowing, we have been able to get some work done on our barn and storage area. I long for the day when I can get my junk out of a storage unit in town and put it in the barn or my new, huge closet. I think I will have a party when I can get all of Toby’s tools and stuff off of the carport and put it in the barn. And then someday, I will have a real house. Not that my little house is not cozy, it is just small and does not have room for all of my stuff.

The weather is supposed to change this evening with a cold front blowing in with possible snow or ice. I can live with that. I made a trip to Wal-Mart to buy a few things to get us through the next few days if the weather is really that bad. Our weatherman is such a Henny Penny that I just do not know how serious to take him. The bad news is that the barn and storage building will be put on hold. The good news is that the cold weather makes it feel more like Christmas.

We don’t really do a big Christmas. Sometimes I decorate – sometimes not. With such a small house, I will probably not decorate this year. People find it odd that we do not go all out for Christmas, but we try not to let Christmas be stressful. Celebrating the birth of Christ should not be something that causes stress or sends you into debt. If Christmas is not joyous, why do it? While acknowledging the birth of Christ is a good thing, there is no set way or day mentioned in the Bible. I think Christ wanted us to acknowledge Him every day making it a way of life – not just a season – so He did not give specific dates or ways to celebrate. When Christmas becomes something that sends people into rushing around, stressed over shopping, and spending money on material things, something is wrong. When people feel pressure to do bigger and better celebrations or to buy bigger and better presents, I think the meaning of Christmas is lost. Gift giving is something you do because you love someone. It can be done anytime of the year. If you are worried about what you are getting for someone because they might get you something, gosh, what is the point? If you normally would not buy a gift for someone, why buy it at Christmas? For so many years we spent money we did not have on gifts people did not need, and why?

On the other hand, Christmas can be a special time – a time of family and friends. It is a good time to do special things for special people (those things can and should be done anytime of the year). It is a good time to do small things for people - to show your appreciation. It can be a special time of year.

I guess everyone celebrated holidays in their own way. I love listening to Christmas music. I bought a new CD this morning. I would probably play Christmas music all year long, but people would think I had lost my mind. I like getting together with family and friends, but then I like that anytime of the year, too. Although I will not buy lots of presents, I am looking forward to mailing out my personalized Christmas cards. However you celebrate, big or small, may your season be filled with joy. If it becomes stressful, stop it.

More Family

At the far right of the picture is my older brother, Craig (lawyer from Austin). In front of him is The Grand Baby. The young man with his arms up in the foreground is Craig's son, Adam. Craig's daughter, Nina, is sitting on the railing of the porch. Their mother is Tish Hinijosa who is a folk singer from Austin. My little brother, Pete, is standing on the porch. Jesse is sitting on the steps, but you can barely see her. This picture was taken after lunch and before the football game. Actually, they were tossing a pumpkin to each other - just for the heck of it.

Family Football

Playing a game of "two below" after lunch is a family tradition. For those of you who do not know the game, it is similar to flag football without the flags. Rather than tackle, you must get two hands below the waist on the player with the ball. There are lots of other sandlot rules, but it is still football with everyone playing from the oldest cousin to the youngest.

Toby has taken a few days off to work on the barn. We are driving to Shawnee today to pick up the metal siding. Tomorrow we will start putting the "skin" on the frame. With Toby home, I do not have much time to post. I will get back to writing after he goes back to work.

Family and T-Day

If there has ever been a more beautiful Thanksgiving Day, I can’t remember it. November is always iffy in Texas. I can remember some great days when the weather was wonderful for our traditional family football game after the big meal. I can also remember days when we nearly froze our bottoms off trying to play outside after the meal. Because the UT vs. A&M game use to be on Thursday afternoon, we kids were banished to the outdoors so the adults could watch the game in peace. Now, we all head outdoors after the meal – to avoid doing the dishes.

There was nothing exciting about our T-Day other than having over thirty people eating dinner at Mom’s. While cooking on Wednesday night with all of the family coming and going and kids yelling and running through the house, I managed to forget the eggs in the pecan pies. I did remember before I baked them. We had to dump them back out of the pie shells and add the eggs. I got razzed pretty seriously for that little mistake. I probably deserved it. My little brother and I had a contest to see who could make our baby sister cry first. She cries over everything. It was her own son who made her cry first when he said he missed Pa. Of course, that was enough to make us all cry. My dad (Pa) died the weekend after Thanksgiving last year.

I am always amazed at how different we all are and yet we have such similarities. Most of us are fairly conservative, Christians, and type A personalities. My Austin-ite brother and his kids are the odd ones. His son wears the baggy pants, has tattoos, earrings, and a long ponytail. He looks like a gang guy. Jesse looks like "the girl next door". Yet, when they get together, they have a blast with each other. My cousin, Becky, was there this year. It has been about five years since we have seen her and some had not seen her since she was a baby and some had never met her. My sister is one of the ones who only knew Becky as a baby, yet she and Becky could be twins. They even act alike – scary. For all our differences, we really do like each other and always have fun.

I hope everyone else had such a good time and good food. This first picture is of one table of turkey eaters. Jesse is in the foreground. My sister is the pretty blond sitting next to my brother who is being covered up by a cousin.

Painting of the Week

This cowboy was sitting on the back of a flatbed truck leaning on his saddle watching a rodeo probably waiting his turn to ride. I loved the light and the colors.

Tomorrow I will be headed to WF. I wanted to help Mom with the preparations for Thanksgiving. There will be about 30 people coming to her house for T-Day. My siblings will also be coming in tomorrow. The party starts early. This is wishing you all a Happy Thanksgiving.

Joe's Article

Recently, I posted a link to an article by Joe Galloway on Michael Yon’s online magazine. I have a lot of respect for Joe and his writing. I have met the man personally. He is a good friend of my uncle’s. Yet, this article was critical of Bush and Rumsfeld and the War in Iraq. I did not agree with all that Joe said, but I put the article out there for others to read and give me their thoughts. I think I was rather astounded by the article and Joe’s views. Sometimes I think, "Did I read that right? Did he really say…" Since I don’t really have a political blog, I did not get a lot of response. Buck responded very politely – maybe as confused as I was because we both like Joe’s other writings. It was one of those "What’s up with Joe?" moments.

Yesterday, I read another of Joe’s articles on Michael Yon’s site. The gloves were definitely off and Joe was swinging at Bush and Rumsfeld. This time, I wrote to my Uncle to ask, "Is that our Joe?" Here is what my uncle replied:

Yep...that is Joe's article. He has been writing lots of articles critical of the Bush Administration and especially SecDef Rumsfeld.
I don't, discuss by e-mail or verbally, the politics/military policies with Joe. I choose to value his friendship more than deep discussions of those subjects. He has lots of connections who dislike Bush and Rumsfeld and would do anything to undermine what ever is taking place. Joe is, in my opinion, a Democrat.

My uncle loves Joe like a brother. I know he would never want to offend Joe. My uncle was much the same with my father who was definitely a Democrat. There are just some things you don’t discuss with those you love if you want to keep the peace. It is an odd feeling when someone you like and respect takes such a totally different view of the world than you do. My own brother is as different from me as night and day, yet I love him dearly. I guess that is what makes this a great country. We can all have different views and still love each other. Yet, I still feel disappointed in Joe.

Actually, I don't have a strong opinion on Rumsfeld or Bush's war policies, although I do think they were doing the best they thought was possible for our military and our country. Mistakes have been made. Hopefully we learn and move forward. I certainly do not have the answers for any of the problems. I think history will prove out the policies of our leaders. So why am I disappointed in Joe? Maybe I want him to be more supportive of our President. Maybe I don't want him to be such a Democrat. Maybe I think most Democrats have a 'cut and run' attitude. That may not be Joe's attitude, but he sure seems to be in bed with some odd ideas. Maybe his views on the War in Iraq will turn out to be positive helps instead of negative rants. Time will tell.

The City Mini-vacation

My mini-vacation to The City was nice. Thursday night we arrived and checked into the Renaissance – thanks Halliburton – it was a nice place. We met up with one of Toby’s coworkers and headed to the Stockyards to eat at Cattleman’s. I love going to the Stockyards to shop, but we were too late for the stores. Still, a steak at Cattleman’s makes you feel like a real cowboy. Later we walked around Bricktown, which was pretty dead on a Thursday night. We did go into Tapworks and had a sampler tray of English beers. Too bad that I did not have my camera with me. I would have taken a picture of myself and sent it to Buck with a "this one’s for you."

Friday, Toby went to an accountant’s school while I went to play with the Grand Baby. We went to the mall with about a hundred other mothers with strollers and babies. Going up and down the elevators was a real challenge with kids and strollers. The Grand Baby thought the elevators were awesome. Of course, she abandoned the stroller to walk like a big girl and got to push the elevator button – what a treat! As a promise for being so good, we took the Grand Baby to the play area for small children. It was one of those well-padded playgrounds with a long couch surrounding the area meant only for toddlers or kids under five years of age. The floor had about a four-inch pad under the carpet dropping off at the edge of the couches. At one point the Grand Baby had me by the finger and was leading me to the slide when I stepped off the edge of the padding and rolled my ankle. It was one of those "one minute you are standing up, and the next minute you are on the ground" type falls. I hit the ground hard and threw the Grand Baby down with me. Of course, there was a man sitting right there witnessing my fall. He asked me if I was okay (probably hiding a laugh) and said it was a good thing the floor was padded – Fine; thank you very much. The Grand Baby was fine, too, but she had this look on her face like, "Booboo, why did you do that?" She came over and put her little arms around my neck and hugged me for several minutes while I laughed so hard that I had tears in my eyes or were the tears for my ankle? I really was fine and the Grand Baby continued to play, but I was glad no one else saw my silly fall.

We ate out Friday night with my son and family and another family with small children. Dinner was wild, and not nearly so fun. Playing with the babies after the meal was more fun. By Saturday, I was worn down. My sinus cold was not helping matters. We left The City around noon and headed for home. A big dog nap did wonders for me. It is always good to get home and sleep in your own bed. I remember thinking my own dad was such an old fogey about wanting to go home to his own bed. On one visit to my parent’s house when my kids were little, Dad said that it was time for everyone to go home because "Grandma was tired". We really teased my dad, because it was not Grandma that was tired, but it was he that was ready for everyone to go home. Now we use the line, "grandma’s tired" whenever needed. I guess I am my father’s daughter.

Painting of the Week

This is the Catholic Church in a small valley in Red River, NM. I have always thought it a very lovely spot for a church.

I will be leaving this afternoon with Toby to go to The City. We will stay a couple of days. He has to attend a school for accountants. I will shop and play with the Grand Baby. Jesse will stay home to watch the dog and have a poker night here at the house. Have a good weekend.

Veterans

Because this is the 41st anniversary of the Ia Drang Battle in Vietnam and Veterans Day just happened, I thought I would share some thoughts between my Uncle Bob, who was as Landing Zone Falcon in the Ia Drang Valley and my cousin, Jim, who is currently in Ramadi. There are references to Jim's father, Fred (my cousin) who fought in Vietnam as well as my cousin, Joe Fred. My favorite part of the story is the part where Uncle Bob gets back to base to discover that his daughter (my cousin Sheri) had been born during the days of battle. I am always awed by the sacrifices of military and their families. My Uncle Bob shared a link to a recent article on the Ia Drang Battle. You might find it interesting reading. Here are the letters between Vietnam Vet and young Marine starting with Uncle Bob's letter:

Thank you Paula. And you know how much I love you and your family. My thoughts of Jim are daily and I know our Lord and Savior will protect him and Auriel. He is a brave, courageous Marine who has my love and most of all the pride I have telling folks about my Marine great nephew.
Two years in a row, Jim was our guest at the Ia Drang reunion and I can never tell you how proud my wife, daughters, sons in law, and grand children were to have Jim as our guest. My grand sons are in awe of their cousin, especially Jacob. Sadly, the 40th reunion was our last but the memories of the reunions and the men I served with so many years ago will never leave me. I get kind of antsy this time of year since 41 years ago we were deploying to the Ia Drang and getting ready to fight a determined NVA. The antsyness won't pass until around Thanksgiving when my battery returned to An Khe and I found out about a baby daughter named Sheri Lynn and that Carolyn was doing well. A letter form Nanny Barker told me about Sheri and her Mother. What great news that was after having been in combat for almost three weeks.
Fred, tomorrow is Veteran's Day and I want to welcome you home and thank you for your service to our Nation. To have served with you at the same time and in Vietnam will always remain in my memory. The same goes for Joe Fred although he and I were not in RVN at the same time.
Carolyn and I send our love to all the Livelys.

Uncle Bob and Dad,
Thanks for the great email. I received the prayergram from Six Mile…awesome! Sorry I didn’t send Vet’s Day greetings to you and Dad. I guess I might get some slack hey? All’s well here. We’re not facing the NVA, but we’ve got an enemy on our hands that’s determined and cunning. He continues to inflict chaos and casualties. We’re ever vigilant and even simple missions like delivering supplies to a local hospital can prove lethal. The enemy yields no quarter and we of course don’t expect it from him.
I’m anxious to see how the next 12 months will unfold now that our legislative branch has turned over. We’ll see. We may well be some of the last forces in Al Anbar province. So be it....and glad it’s us.
That’s it from this end. I’m so proud of the heritage of military professionals that I follow. From grandfathers, great uncles, and of course my father, I’m just proud to be in uniform in some way carrying out a mission that was started long ago, carried by you both for a time and now passed to me and my comrades. Band of brothers is what we are. Family first, soldiers always and protectors of our nation’s honor and security. I’ve got a tear in my eye as I reflect on the commitment that the Lively, Barker, Hays and Wells families have made.
Garry Owen, Semper Fidelis and Keep your powder dry! Happy Vet’s day to my two favorite Vets!
Jim

Soldier Picture

Several weeks ago, my Painting of the Week was of a soldier smelling a letter from home. I painted it from a photo that I found somewhere on the internet, but I could not remember where I found it. Today, Laurie found the photographer and the photo. The photo was taken by Cheryl Diaz Meyer of the Dallas Morning News. You can see the actual photo here. It is a great photo. Ms. Meyer did and incredible job.

Just something else on my mind: I may switch to beta blogger (blogger beta?). If I do and you have trouble commenting...well, you are on your own. When some others made the switch, I had to comment using "other" rather than my blogger account. Lately, though, I do not have to use "other". I can use my blog name. We will see what happens.

One other interesting item: it is so windy here today, that the wind blew my freezer door open (the freezer is a large upright that stands outside in our carport) and pulled the whole freezer away from the wall. I saw my dog out in the yard eating some ground pork. If the wind dies down, I will have to go to the south fence and collect all sorts of junk that has blown off of my carport. Who knows, maybe I will find a steak.

Proper Spelling

Just because you know all of the rules doesn’t mean they work all of the time. Take the rule "I before E except after C and in certain words like neighbor and weigh." What about "either and neither"? What about the hundreds of other exceptions to the rules? What about my title word "proper"? Why isn't it "propper"?

My spelling has always been atrocious (I held my breath as I spelled that last word hoping I would get it right). My son was one of those people who did great in spelling bee competitions. He can memorize and bring up any word in his mind and spout it out when needed. Then he went and got married and left me to spell check, which does not work on my blogsite. I have to write everything on Word and paste it over to my blog – not a bad thing, but a hassle. My brain works differently from Bo’s. I cannot see the word in my head. I am a visual person. I have to write it out and look at it for a while, mull it over, and try it again. Knowing spelling rules is probably good, but sometimes useless. Then things get complicated with homophones (I spelled that correctly – even looked it up in the dictionary to make sure I was using the right word) or words that sound pretty close to the same. If you have a Texas accent like mine, lots of words cannot be spelled the way they sound. I wish it were all simplified. Keep it Simple Stupid is my rule, and it works well – most of the time. Why use "sit, sat, set" when "set" could work all of the time? "Lie, lay, lain" just totally confuses my brain. "Accept and except" make me crazy. "Advise and advice" are just too close to call.

I keep a dictionary and a thesaurus close at all times, but even then spelling is tricky. In the fourth grade, I asked my teacher how to spell "lodge". I had spelled it "loge". My teacher told me to look it up. Try looking up "lodge" if you don’t have the first three letters correct. It made me crazy.

The other day, I was writing a comment on Becky’s blog when I had one of those spelling brain farts. I wanted to say her cake looked "delicious", but I had no spell check. I spelled the word several times, but was unsure of myself. Finally, I wrote, "yummy". It worked great. When I first started teaching, a student asked me, "Meese, how do you spell corridor?" I replied, "Hall – H-a-l-l." He did not like that, so I told him to look it up.

The apple does not fall far from the tree. Jesse is even worse than I am on spelling (it was that home skullin thang). She said she was leaving a thank you note for someone, but got into an argument with Lindsay on how to spell "greatful" or "grateful". They opted for "thankful" instead.

If you catch my mis-spells or typos, please forgive me. I could start in on punctuation rules. Personally, I think getting your meaning across is the important thing. If it is too confusing, it probably needs help. With the way my brain works, my writing could be confusing. Sometimes the thought in my brain just does not make it down my arm and out my fingers very well. Then when I proofread, my brain compensates making the words seem perfectly logical. Oh well, bear (or bare) with one another in love and kindness, patience (patients?) and mercy.

Redheaded Stranger

I have mentioned before that my mom is a hairdresser. She has a beauty shop behind her house that she still works in. I grew up in beauty shops watching Mom cut, curl, put color on, and make ladies look stylish. When Mom was teaching cosmetology, she often took me to work with her giving me a mannequin to play with. I learned the basics of hair cutting and coloring, but I never took the time to get a beauty license. Often, my sister, Mom, and other willing ladies will get in the shop and do each other’s hair. I have rarely ever paid anyone to do my hair – we just have hair parties. Those are wild times.

Yesterday, while spending the day with Mom, we bought some hair color for Jesse. Jesse has wanted to put some red in her hair. Last week she made an appointment with another hairdresser to color her hair. When I told her that I could do it for her, she canceled the appointment. Last night, in the midst of making pies for Toby’s office party tomorrow (another story for some other time), I colored Jesse’s hair. I have to admit that I did a fine job. Jesse looks great. Her hair is dark naturally, but now it has beautiful auburn highlights. She was pleased, too. And that is what counts.

For years, I have cut Toby and Bo’s hair and sometimes other friend’s hair. Last week John, a 78-year-old man from our church, wanted me to cut his hair. It was not a problem – I ran the clippers over it a few times, and he was done. He then stayed and had supper with us and then hung around the house visiting. John is an interesting man. He came here from Montana, and he has lots of stories about growing up in the wilderness with his brothers and sisters. I picture him as once being a large, strong man working with his hands doing lots of physical labor. Now, he reminds me of Treebeard (Lord of the Rings). He also tells rather corny jokes. The funny part is not his jokes, but the fact that he laughs way before the punch line and has a hard time finishing the joke. The really funny part, this time, was that Jesse matched him corny joke for corny joke. John, Treebeard, telling jokes was great, but watching Jesse with her dancing eyes laughing with John was even better. It made for a fun evening.

Complaint Dept.

My computer has been so slow lately. I may need to make an appointment with my computer doctor, but mostly I think it is the connection. It has also been bumping me off the internet more often. When I finally get a good connection (at least 24.6 kbps) I can stay on for a while, but it is still really slow. To load a picture onto my blog takes forever. Usually, I go take a shower and get dressed before it loads (if it does not bump me off). The photo that I posted from my Marine cousin, came via email. It took a while for it to come up on my email, but not too bad. Then my uncle sent the picture again and it took forever - tying up the computer for over 30 minutes. I don't mind waiting on great personal pictures or something, but when someone sends some silly, mushy, been-around-forever email, I get plum loco. Sometimes I want to comment on someone's blog, but by the time I get where I am going, it is time to get off and do other things. I am really feeling the frustration of my dial-up.

I have looked in to clearwire and dish type networks. They are really expensive. The set up fee is usually $200.00 or more. Then they want $39 to $49 dollars a month. If I lived in town, I could get DSL cheap. Ahh, the things we do to live in the country! Maybe I need a studio in town, maybe a new computer, or maybe more patience.

The real problem is age. I hate to say that I have senior moments. I prefer to say that I have blonde moments, but it is really the same. Because my computer is slow, I often do other things while waiting on it. Then I forget that I was on line and go off doing the ironing or reading a book. Does my computer bump me off then? No; it stays on all afternoon. Okay, enough whining.

I may go to Wichita Falls today. I have some errands to do in the big city. With Thanksgiving comeing up, I need to take the turkey to Mom's and put it in her freezer. We need to do some planning. We will be having a big crowd - lots of family at Mom's. If anyone else wants to join us, come on. It will be a party. Friday night there is a dance at the Elk's lodge with the Jay Hooker band - another party. All are invited.

Veteran's Day

To all you veterans out there - Buck, Dale, Becky, and anyother vets who might read this blog, have a blessed day. You are appreciated. This is a picture of my cousin Jim, now in Ramadi, with his college buddy Guy. If you think they are just giving you a thumbs up, think again. They are both Aggies - Gig 'em!

Last night we went to my nephew's football game in Wichita Falls. They had a young military man on the sidelines who had just arrived home from Iraq and came to watch his old high school play football. I wondered how he felt standing there. It must seem like a totally different world from the one in Iraq.

My Grand baby also went to the game with us - her first live football game. She watches and plays football with her daddy at home, but this was something new. She was awe struck by the crowd and the noise - at first. Then she caught on pretty quickly that she could jump up and down and be wild. We sat down on the first row. She was hanging over the railing, standing on her seat, climbing in the crowd and absorbing every new sensation. It was more fun watching her than the game. Someone had to do it.

Painting of the Week

This is a painting of the Little Red School House in Red River, NM. I never went to school there (I went down the canyon to Questa). Bo and Jesse went to school in RR, but the school district moved in portable buildings around the old school house. Before the portable buildings were moved in, the grass around the old building was one of the few places we could play softball as a kid growing up in RR. Flat grassy spots are hard to come by in the Rocky Mountains. RR is a small valley. A few years ago, the Little Red School was moved to another location to become part of the RR Museum.

Wiser with Age

If you were wondering where Jesse gets her bluntness, well, maybe some of it does come from me. With age, we all improve. Hopefully, we all get wiser, but twenty-plus years ago when I was teaching at Mission High School in South Texas, I was much like Jesse (come to think of it, I was about her age). The teacher’s lounge was always a hotbed of discussion. I loved hanging out in the lounge and being a part of those discussions.

One day in the lounge I was having a discussion with a fellow teacher, a lady we called Murphey. Murphey was an Irish Catholic New Yorker who had moved to the Rio Grande Valley with her husband and seven children. I liked Murphey well enough, but she was not a particularly great teacher (believe me, teachers know who can teach and who cannot). Her own seven children were rather wild. The term "white trash" comes to mind if it can be applied to a Northerner rather than a Southerner. I tended to call her "Mrs. Murphey" because as my elder, she deserved some respect. Mrs. Murphey and I were discussing the upcoming presidential election of that day – the one with Geraldine Ferraro running for Vice President. Having been raised by yellow dog Democrats, I was much more liberal minded then. I was certainly more "women’s lib" back in the day. At one point in the discussion with Mrs. Murphey, she said something along the lines of "I don’t like Geraldine Ferraro. I don’t think she should be VP. She just is not feminine enough."

The debater in me recognized faulty reasoning, and I said as much. Like a machine-gun I shot her with, "Feminine! What does that have to do with anything? You wear your hair shorter than most men do, I rarely see you wear make-up, and I have never seen you in a dress, and you think being feminine is important! What does that have to do with anything?" The minute those words left my mouth and I saw the look on Mrs. Murphey’s face, I knew I had messed up. I immediately apologized, although my apology was probably lacking. "Look Mrs. Murphey, I did not mean that the way it sounded. I certainly did not mean it to be hurtful. I just wanted to point out that you yourself do not seem to put any importance on being feminine. Why would you expect it in a vice president?" Mrs. Murphey said she understood perfectly and was not offended. We continued to talk and eventually, the bell rang. We went back to our classrooms (corners).

Later that day another fellow teacher came into my room laughing hard. She told me that she had been in the teacher’s lounge and heard Murphey telling a story about how "someone" had spoken harshly to her. This teacher told that everyone in the lounge had been appropriately horrified as Murphey told her story of "someone" being so cruel to her, but Murphey said she would not reveal the offender. After very little persuasion, Murphey gave in and melodramatically revealed, "It was Lou who said it to me." This teacher said everyone in the room burst out laughing. She said that everyone had been thinking how true the words were, but wondered who would actually say them to Murphey. When they found out it was me who had said the "hateful words," they all got a real kick out of the situation. They thought my words were perfect. It seems that I had a reputation for saying exactly what I thought and I would fight if provoked (or at a drop of a hat).

As I said earlier, hopefully we get wiser. Yesterday while I was teaching art to an older man (new student) at his house, his wife came in and announced that Rummsfeld had resigned. I was very surprised and said so. Then I started to say that I knew nothing about war strategy and how to solve the war problems…when the wife interrupted and said, "Well, I know how to solve the problem. Bring our boys home!"

The debater in me recognized the faulty reasoning. You may want to guess at this point what I said in reply, but you would be pleasantly surprised that I held my tongue. I did not say, "That is rather simple-minded don’t you think?" I had other thoughts too, but I will hold my tongue.

Apology

I apologize for not posting yesterday. Sunday night I drove to The City to spend the night with the Grand Baby. I stayed all day Monday with the Blonde Tornado and got home Monday night. Yesterday was spent catching up and having art classes. I was hoping the cleaning fairies would show up and clean my house while I was gone, but maybe I should hire elves. Those fairies are just falling down on the job. I voted early yesterday and ran several errands in town before picking up one of my art students and heading home for an afternoon of art. Today will be a similar day. I feel like I am running to catch up.

In my optimism I commented at Buck’s that I thought the Republicans would hang on to the House. I was wrong. I apologize. I really thought that the conservatives would hang on. I am not sure what that means for the future, but I am forever the optimist. It seems odd to me that just two years ago Americans voted Republican. Reps were saying it was the voice of America speaking out for conservative issues. Now the MSM is saying it again - only this time it is for Democrats. So what does it really say for Americans? Maybe it says we want our representatives to vote the issues and not the Party line. Maybe we want our represtenatives work together. While watching Good Morning America this morning, they reported that 57% of people disapprove of the war. What does that mean exactly? No one "likes" war. No one wants to be in a war. My mother says she hates the war, hates that young people are being killed, but she does not see any way to avoid war right now. She does not think we should cut and run. Are other Americans saying "I disapprove of the war, but we can’t pull out now?" Polls are misleading in that they only ask simple questions without any room for explanations. Was that a deciding issue? Maybe more young people voted this time, and we know they are brainwashed by the liberal education system :)

Obviously, I don’t have the answers. This morning I feel much like I did when Clinton won a second term – kind of sick to my stomach. As the optimist, I still think that not much will change. I have a hope for mankind and the American Way. No matter who governs our America, I am part of another nation, and the kingdom of God is forever – Peace, Love, and Joy.

I need to hang some clothes on the line and mat some art - life goes on.

Jesse Stories

Jesse sometimes does some volunteer work for the Duncan Little Theater. She does set painting and background work. Her normal fee is free tickets to the play that she works on. Recently she has been working on the set of "Cheaper by the Dozen". This week she brought home a large piece of cardboard (3’x5’) to paint a backyard scene for the play. She started the scene, but as sometimes happens, Jesse bites off more than she can chew. Today she is at a softball tournament. Later this evening she is supposed to be at a birthday party/cookout/volleyball game. Next weekend she is going to Wichita on Friday night to watch her cousin play football. Then on Saturday, she and Lindsay have tickets to the OSU vs. Baylor football game in Stillwater. It is a good thing she likes her job, because work certainly takes up a lot of her time. He nickname should be Wheel. So, I have been painting on her scene, which is no problem. I will do some of the scene, kind of get her going, and she can finish it. Since Jesse left me home to do the work, I thought it a good time for some Jesse stories.

Jesse has always been one to say whatever came into her head often shocking people around her or at least keeping everyone entertained. When she was four, she liked to hang out at the beauty shop in Red River with my mom. One day, an older lady named Hank Mutz was getting her hair done. Hank is a gruff, pioneer type woman who can say some rather shocking things herself. Hank was talking in her usual loud gruff voice when Jesse walked up to her and said, "Do you eat little kids for breakfast?" Everyone held their breath (Hank is not known for liking little kids), but Hank burst out laughing. Jesse was one of her favorites after that. Jesse asked another older lady if she liked purple hair. The lady said, "No; why do you ask?" Jesse answered, "Cause that is what you got."

When Jesse was five, she was in a friend of mine’s wedding. As the bride, her father, and all of the bridesmaids stood waiting for the signal to walk down the aisle, Jesse looked up and said, "Kristine why are you marrying Deke?" Kristine said, "Because I love him, Jesse." Jesse said, "But you already live with him." Kristine said, "Shut up, Jesse." Kristine still reminds me of that day, but now she laughs.

When Jesse was eight we were at the mall in Santa Fe with the youth minister’s wife, Wendy. Wendy was young and beautiful and newly married – no kids. Jesse had been begging me all day to buy her some white, lacy, go-to-church type gloves. I finally gave in and bought her the gloves. A few minutes later, I looked over and Wendy was laughing so hard that I had to ask what had happened. Jesse was sitting next to Wendy wearing her new gloves and holding her hands out like a mime admiring her new gloves. Wendy said, "She just put those gloves on and said, ‘Now I can steal something.’" Another time while we were shopping with Wendy at Wal-Mart, I let Jesse go off with Wendy. Soon there was a crowd and a commotion in the middle of the store. It seems that Jesse had climbed up on a treadmill to check it out. When she turned the treadmill on, someone had left it on high speed. It flipped Jesse, but she hung on, being dragged by the treadmill and yelling for Wendy. Wendy was laughing so hard she couldn’t figure out how to turn the treadmill off. They drew a rather large crowd.

On Jesse’s 18th birthday, Bo was turning 21. Their birthdays are three years and one week apart. We had lots of family and friends over for a double birthday party. Jesse said, "Hey Bo, lets go to the convenience store. You can buy beer and I can buy cigarettes." I think my family knew she was just teasing.

The other night at dinner we were discussing upcoming plans. I told her that she had to stay home with the dog on the weekend of the 17th because I was going to The City with her father. She said, "That will be fine with me; I’ve been needing a poker night with the girls." I said, "But none of you know how to play poker well enough to have a poker night." Jesse then said, "You know, I really don’t even like poker. Maybe we will just smoke."

I try not to let her get a rise out of me. She has been saying outrageous things all of her life. It certainly makes for excitement.

Painting of the Week

I did two small paintings yesterday while working with my students. The palm tree painting I did because one of my students was doing it and needed help. The other painting is of the Grand Baby having a serious look at Goldie, our old roping horse. Last week when I took her out to pet Goldie, the Grand Baby said, "I ride." Being a good grandmother, I set her up on Goldie"s back. Goldie, being a good horse, just stood there.

The Rest of the Picture

Here is the fall of Jesse. I actually have a video of it with wonderful "oohs and aahs" in the background along with a huge "ouch" and much laughter.

Okie Stuff

Last night at dinner, we had the local news (KSWO Lawton/Ft. Sill) playing in the background. One of the stories had to do with a new law passed legalizing tattoo parlors in OK (big news). The reporter took us to a new tattoo parlor that was opening and described all that had to be done to meet the law's requirements. She said that health inspectors would be inspecting the parlor "to make sure it was up to snuff." This last phrase caught our attention. Jesse said, "Did she just say 'up to snuff'?" Toby said, "Yep, good Okie term." Jesse noted that it seemed funny that a reporter would use that terminology. Toby said, "It is probably the phrase actually on the inspector's health report. Jesse pretended to have a paper in her hand, "Yep, this parlor is 'Up to Snuff'. Check" and she made a big check on her pretend paper. We all had a good laugh.

A few days ago, I posted a picture of Jesse and her friends at camp with a "Ritz" sign for their tent. Another tent had this sign attached to some barbed wire, "No Trespassing. Violators will be shot. Survivors will be shot again." I love OK. Of course, it reminded me of a sign we saw on a fence in a small Spanish village in the mountains around Taos that said, "No Tressing." The colorful ribbons in the picture are for the young campers birthday - I wish Jesse had gotten a better picture of the sign, but there it is.

Jesse and her friend Lindsay are always clowning around - sometimes they are very physical - Ethel and Lucy stuff. Can you guess what happened next?

Letter from Iraq

Here is the first mass email report from my cousin Jim, who is a Marine in Ramadi. I think the letter speaks for itself. I included a little "encouragement to vote" from Jim's dad here at the beginning:

There is so much in the main stream media lately about Iraq and a “we can’t win” attitude. Even CNN, ran the video of terrorists killing American troops. Paula and I are incensed and I hope you are too. I have refrained from becoming political during Jim’s deployments but I’m afraid I’ve reached the point where I can and must stress the importance of this upcoming election. We CAN NOT cut and run from this war. It is much, much more than the fight in Iraq. We are fighting an ideology that seeks to destroy the very thing we all hold dear….our American way of life. Please, consider your vote carefully but most importantly PLEASE VOTE. One party would have us cut and run the other party recognizes what is at stake and has the will and the courage to win.

From Jim:

Well,

Busy, busy here. I’m sure Mrs A told you, but we had a mass casualty yesterday the killed three of our jundis and wounded another 15…all with burns…almost identical situation to the mass casualty I had last year in Karmah. I wasn’t on the convoy, but John Welch and Phil Palmer were. IED struck right under the utility truck they were in. All the burns were 2nd and 3rd degree…pretty bad. 4 are still in ICU. Two days before our battalion had 8 casualties from a grenade attack and a gun shot would…fortunately there were relatively minor injuries.

So, now comes today…beautiful day. I spent the day planning our battalion operation for tomorrow and I’m in the S-3 shop with an S-3 that is every bit as good as Capt Sadeq from last year. This guy is a stud. All of the sudden a jundi runs in and yells “Fire! Fire!” I run out to see one of the jundis Quonset huts completely engulfed in flames! The jundis (Arabic for soldier) live in these wooden barracks with tin roofs. They’re all about 3 feet apart and are surrounded by these six foot, dirt filled barriers to protect them from indirect fire shrapnel. I made the call to our US battalion HQ and my exact transmission was, “Red Curahee, this is Wasta-6…we have a huge fire in the IA billeting…send every water truck you have to this compound right now.” They acknowledged and w/in 10 minutes we had a huge water tanker on the scene. I just knew that all 15 of their barracks were going to burn down. We couldn’t get water to the buildings because of the giant barriers so we had to then call for a giant front end loader to pull those barriers down. The jundis were running around like banshees…total panic. Col Ali was right in the middle bailing buckets and moving guys around. Then, some ammo left in one of the barracks started cooking off so we had to back away…so the next building caught on fire. I’m was almost hopeless…I started to wonder were 300 soldiers were going to live and how my new battalion would be able to continue to fight. By God’s grace and a mighty jundi bucket brigade they put out the fire. Not a single soldier was hurt. Col Ali laughed…he said, Capt Lively, we just lose beds, pillows and blankets…no problem….we didn’t lose any soldiers.” Praise the Lord. We had an operations order scheduled for 1600. We finished with the fire at about 1550 and I asked Col Ali if we were still going to give the order…he said, “Of course, give my officers 30 minutes to take showers and we’ll be ready.” And they were…the S-3 gave a great operations order….never mind that an hour before he’d been covered in soot and soaked in water… These guys are warriors, I don’t care how you slice it.

Of course, my team is like, “Sir, we’ve been here 7 days, all of us have been shot at already, we’ve had 25 casualties and a barracks fire…HA! What’s next!” Spirits are high and we’re certainly building team work and our crisis management skills are getting honed pretty quickly.

So, yet another adventure. Wow….can we just pace ourselves a bit? Tomorrow’s operation will probably see us locked up with some local miscreants and that’s o.k. That’s why we’re here.

O.k. gotta run and clean my weapon, pack my grenades and check my radio…that’s the routine here. Camel back is always full, fresh batteries always in, radio always primed and ammo always topped off….if Col Ali rolls…I roll…24/7. I love it.


Love,
Jim