New Camera

Jesse has a new camera - better to record her grand adventures. She took these pictures a week or so ago when TFNP was here with his family. The first picture is of my son and his wife. She is wearing the pretty dress that he bought her for her birthday and the one she wore while moving the ladder for him at the barn - see she looks really nice. Notice the goose in the bottom of the picture.

The second picture is typical Jesse taking a picture of herself and GBN2 - both are beautiful.

The third picture is of the three princesses playing in the sand where we are building a patchwork patio.

The last picture is the one that concerns me. Back behind our house there are some saw-horses and boards that we use as scaffolding when working on the house. The picture is of GBN1 climbing the boards which are propped up like a seesaw and could be dangerous since it would be quite a drop to the ground. It leads me to believe that Jesse must have her feet on the long end of the seesaw so that GBN1 does not go flying. I am afraid we have a third generation daredevil on our hands being aided by the 2nd generation daredevil.

Noise in the Night

Last night I went out with friends to eat and see "Pirates of the Caribbean". Toby did not go with me - as I have mentioned before, he is not big on movies. I got home about 10:30 PM and moved the puppy to my side of the bed so that I could tend to her during the night. The cat came in, but then put her back out. About 4:30 AM, Toby woke up and said, "Is that cat in the house? If it is, it is breaking glass." I thought this was a very funny statement on several levels. First, Toby gives me a very hard time if I wake him up with a similar statement. He thinks it is silly for me to wake him up when I hear a noise and expect him to go find out what it is. In fact, something has to really scare me before I bother to wake him. When we had babies, he thought I was silly when I would wake him up to say that the baby was crying. His response was usually, "If you hear the baby, you should go take care of it and not wake me too. Why should both of us be awake?" Don't worry; I did not fall for that one. If I had waited on him to hear the baby crying, our children would have been neglected. A good elbow to the midsection seems to help the hearing impaired. Which brings us to the second funny thing, Toby's hearing is just not what it use to be. To hear "glass breaking" would be pretty unusual for him due to the high pitch ping noise is not in his range. Also, he has selective hearing - he only hears and responds to things that interest him and few things interest him more than his sleep. The third funny thing about his statement is that he really must not have been very awake. Toby may fall asleep quickly, but he comes awake much more slowly. Why would the cat be in the house? Why would it be breaking glass? The noise that woke him was not a crash, but more like a ping. Why did he wake me too? We both stayed silent waiting to hear the noise again, and we did hear several more pings. "Hail!" Toby said. My thoughts exactly.

Mothers and Daughters

That it rained all weekend is an understatement. The Duncan area got over eight inches of rain this weekend and most of that was Saturday evening. We worked on the barn most of the day Saturday although it was drizzling outside. It was raining pretty steady at 3:00 PM when we went to the homeschool graduation ceremony. Four of my art girls were graduating. It was a beautiful ceremony for my beautiful girls. Their parents presented each one their diploma, reading scriptures and giving blessings to each girl. A couple of the girls performed musically. If there were any talent scouts out there, they could have hit the jackpot with these girls. Each girl had a table set up with photos and items that represent their lives. They all had art work to display. I was very proud of my girls.

It continued to rain throughout the evening and all night. Bo and Sara got stuck in Duncan for about an hour Saturday evening when Hwy 81 was closed due to flooding. No one wanted to come to our house after church on Sunday and take a chance on getting stuck in our driveway. We ended up eating in town at my friend and in-law, Inpassing’s, house. She provided my favorite chicken tenders from the “flyin’ chicken” - good friends and fried chicken just can’t be beat on a Sunday afternoon. Then we all went to our own homes and took naps. Hey, it was too wet to work.

Sunday evening Jesse, Toby and I went to the movies to see Shrek 3. Toby rarely goes to a movie, and this is his second one this year - yeha. The movie was funny if you like Shrek. I think my favorite part was the dying frog king. The donkey/dragons were just pretty cute too. A couple of the dandies joined us at the movies. They had been out riding their motorcycles before the movies so we got to check out their bikes. After the movie, they joined us for some ice cream at Braums.

While sitting at Braums, I got another chance to watch Jesse with her dandies. I watched to see how she interacted with them. I love it when she lets down her guard - spontaneously bursting into laughter , teasing them, and just being herself. Her eyes light up, and she can be pretty awesome at these times. It is always interesting to see how the boys react to her. And I always have that thought, “Could one of these guys be the one for her?” So I watch them close and wonder.

Since she has been a teenager, I have watched her and the young men with whom she has come in contact. There are many times, when I know exactly what Jesse is thinking, and sometimes not. Usually, I can tell whom she is impressed with and whom she is not, because we have similar views. One time after a visit from a very impressive young man, I asked her what she thought. She said, “He did not ring any bells.” This young man was so impressive that I continued to hold out hope, knowing what an exceptional man he was. Then Jesse asked me if I still was thinking that he might be the one for her. I told her at that time that I look over every young man as if “he might be the one”. Jesse was right - they turned out to be great friends, but there was the lack of spark to be anything more.

So while I watched her the other night, I also had these thoughts. Do other mothers do this? Do other mothers watch their daughters so close? Do they consider each young man she meets as marriage material or not? Do they try to picture the young man as a husband and father and how he would respond to other family members? Those thoughts brought me to these thoughts Did my own mother watch me like this? If so, what did she think when I brought Toby home? Hmm, I bet I know. I bet she thought, “no way!” She did not know Toby at all. We were just kids in college. I brought him home for a few days during spring break (we married in June). It was not like he was studying to be a doctor or anything. He had that slow West Texas drawl. He drove a fast car. I just wonder what she thought back then. As to what my father thought; I don’t even want to go there. The important thing is, I know what she thinks of Toby now. Both of my parents came to know and love Toby. Dad always said that he taught me well. We have taught Jesse well, too. I have no fears there, just interest.

Memorial Day

The puppy woke me about 4:30 this morning. I had trouble clearing my mind and falling back asleep. Usually, I take it as a sign that I need get up and to be in prayer about something. So, I started praying for soldiers I know in Iraq and for those whom I do not know. Later, I realized it was Memorial Day and wondered if my uncle would email all of us with the names of vets from our family. He usually starts with my grandfather, Fred Barker who fought in WWI and moves on to my dad, himself and my Uncle Paul Wells, and Uncle Wes Lively. Then he moves to the next generation: my cousins Joe Barker and Fred Lively (Joe with a Purple Heart). Of course, he does not forget Major Jim Lively in Iraq now. It means a lot to my Uncle Bob that we remember these men on Memorial Day and Uncle Bob taught me well. I would also like to remember and thank my blogger friends who have served and are serving their country especially Buck and his sons, and Becky.

For those of you who do not read Exile in Portales, Buck has an excellent link on a Memorial Day story. It is worth the read.

Rain

This is a picture from the Duncan Banner taken last night. Highway 81 is the main street (four lanes and an median) through Duncan. It was closed in several places due to flooding. It rained hard all night long even after this picture was taken. Our pond is full and over flowing. Amazing stuff. Hopefully we can get out our driveway - a mudin' we will go.

Puppy Love

The new puppy has stolen her way into our hearts. She has to be near people all of the time. Here she is sleeping at my feet as I work at the computer. She pesters the art girls - bites their toes, but they love her too. She is highly entertaining with her oversized paws and gangly legs. We tried several names for over a week. The name that seems to stick is Zoe.

Painting of the Week

Purpose

Since Jack Army posted my thoughts on his blog and asked for more, I thought I would oblige. Here are more thoughts on writing and my life as a teacher.

Besides thinking of your audience, you must also consider your purpose. I’m not talking about what is taught in books - essays of persuasion, compare and contrast, descriptive, etc. I’m talking about “what the heck are you writing for.” I used to explain to my students that they needed to understand why they were writing and what they wanted to get from their writing. They could be writing in their personal journals to sound off, record their life or they might be writing a letter to a friend just to converse and share info about their life, etc. Most of the time in public school, they were writing to get a good grade or pass a test. If that was the case, then their audience was probably going to be a teacher of some sort or other academic personnel. More than likely, this person would not care what the student's opinion was, but was looking at how well they expressed that opinion. To get the grade or pass the test, those written opinions needed to be clear and reasonable. They needed to be orderly - topic sentence and supporting sentences/ideas and conclusion. When given a choice between topics to write on, I tried to teach my students to choose the one they could write the most on - had the most thoughts on. When given one topic and choice between pro and con, choose the one they could make the best arguments for, and remember your audience. Unfortunately, students had a difficult time with this.

I often gave this simple assignment: Write a short essay (or paragraph) on “Should students be allowed to chew gum in school?” Nine out of ten times, the students would choose pro gum chewing and then have no real reason for their opinion other than “because I like it”. Wrong! You get a bad grade because you had no intelligent thought process and did not support your opinion with well written sentences. I tried to explain to students that this little essay was not going to change school rules - no one really cared what they thought of gum chewing. The purpose was to prove how well they wrote. Plus, if a teacher or academic person was grading this, they might need to consider his or her opinion and write accordingly - if you want the good grade. Still, it was difficult for them to write if it did not come from their heart.

Here is another example to prove the importance of audience and purpose. I took four girls (freshman, sophomore, junior and senior) to the Language Arts Contest at Highlands University in northern NM and entered them in the writing contest. They were given a choice between two topics. I can’t remember what one topic was, but the other topic had to do with the importance academics versus extra-curricular activities. Three of the four girls chose the topic that I cannot remember and all placed in the top three writers of their age categories (one girl even won a scholarship). The fourth girl was just as smart and could write just as well, but she was also a cheerleader, and she chose to write pro extra-curricular activities. She did not place at all. Hmm, what was the real purpose - to win the contest. Who was the audience - college professors who thought academics were all important. Chances are this little girl should have won a prize for her writing ability, but she forgot to consider her purpose and her audience.

Is this a life lesson? Sure. In our every day life we should choose our battles (consider our purpose) wisely. Are we writing or speaking to win friends and influence people or are we trying to piss someone off? Those last three words of that sentence could offend someone, but yet, they were the words that said my message best. It was my choice.

PS to my earlier post:

Wow, Jack Army just posted my post/comment on his blog. I am honored. If you had some problem going to Jack's blog when you clicked on the link below, I think I fixed it now. At Jack's blog, you can read my comment and his thoughts on the post called "Audience". You can read his post "Dark Thoughts" to see what started all of this.

Freedom of Writing

It is working out to be a busy day. The dandies are coming to the house tonight for dinner and a movie. I have lots of house cleaning to do. I have art class. The rat terrier had problems through-out the night that required clean up and now a trip to the vet. I don't know what he ate, but he never has accidents in the house which causes me serious worry.

This morning I spent way too much time making a comment over at Jack Army's blog. He has some interesting thoughts and some questions concerning freedom of speech/writing. I decided to just post my comment here too since I had already put so much effort into writing it. I gave my opinion on writing in public school/freedom of speech sort of thing. Go visit Jack's blog to read his thoughts and his thought provoking questions:

As an ex-high school English teacher I would like to make a couple of simple points. First, I always encouraged my students to think about their audience when writing. They were told not to write anything that would not be appropriate for me or other teachers to read. Sexual content, bad language, violence all being things that would not be appropriate. Hey, this was public school, and it was important to control the atmosphere. Just because school is public and free doesn’t mean you get to do and say whatever you want. Sure a kid could write how he hated the food in the cafeteria, but he could not write that he would like to kill the cafeteria workers. If a kid did write something inappropriate, it should certainly set off bells and be dealt with accordingly. Which bring me to my second point - any teacher worth his/her salt should be able to discern serious threats of violence and just simple mouthing off (or showing off). Knowing your students, watching their behavior, sensing their emotions is a large part of teaching (yeah being a psychologist is part of it). I could give lots of examples here, but will spare you my battle stories. The “dealt with accordingly” has several meanings. It could mean the student is watched closer, questioned and talked to by the teacher, sent to the school counselor, sent to the principal, suspended, expelled, etc.

Having freedom of speech sounds great, but nothing is ever truly free. There are boundaries everywhere - from public schools to the work place to the everyday life. Kids must learn to function within those boundaries. If an employee wrote sexual or violent fantasies in the work place, you bet your bottom, it would be dealt with seriously. Being taught what is appropriate for different situations or different audiences is part of education not stifling the imagination. There is plenty of freedom in writing other places, but not necessarily in public school.

Okay, one quick example: A few years ago I was in charge of the youth portion of a local art show. It was a typical small town art guild art show. Local schools were encouraged to send in student art work. One school sent in a drawing of a person looking into a shattered bathroom mirror pointing a gun at his own head - basically a kid committing suicide. Truthfully, it was a great piece of art work - thought provoking and well drawn, but the audience was horrified as was the judge of the art show. It did not win any prizes and most people had comments like, “That kid needs serious help.” The art teacher was angry that the drawing did not win and said it was because our art show was a bunch of old fogies and that in a college environment the drawing would have done very well. I agreed, but pointed out that a painter or writer must keep his audience in mind. That school has never participated in our art show again which is too bad for the students - another form of stifling the imagination?

Someone else made a good comment on Jack's post about parental involvement. I agree whole heartily. Parents should be much more involved in their kids life. I should add to my list of "dealt with accordingly" that parents would be notified of any inappropriate writings.

Farm Life

Toby left for The City yesterday after work. He spent the night at my son's home in order to catch a plane for Houston at the crack of dawn today. He will not get home until late tonight. Whenever Toby is away, I have mixed emotions. Part of me misses him, knowing that I will not sleep well without him hogging the bed. The other part of me thinks, "Yeha, I don't have to cook and I can do whatever I want for the evening." There is also that old rule that if Toby is away things that can go wrong will go wrong or at least strange things happen. About midnight last night, the outside dog started growling and barking setting off the inside dogs. I don't scare easily, but when the dogs are scared, it is just worrisome and makes sleep even more difficult. Maybe having Toby sleeping beside me just gives me a sense of security - if he is not worried, then I am not worried. One of my worries last night was that the coyotes were after the goose, but this morning the goose was fine as was my outside dog. The morning rituals were running along as usual, but after awhile Jesse and I noticed a definite stench in the house. We looked for a puppy accident, but all was good there. I carried out the trash thinking that was the problem, but still something was just reeking. Thinking that I was going to have to mop the tile and shampoo the carpet, I made my WalMart list. Then I sat down to watch a little GMA. That is when I figured it out. The rat terrier had rolled in something dead. Oh man, it was bad. So, I spent the next part of the morning bathing the dog (not one of my favorite chores). Later, while I was busy at the computer, I realized that the wet dog was now on the bed sleeping on my pillow. I will add "new pillows" to the WalMart list. In the meantime, the outside dog was barking again. Someone was driving up to the house at the crack of dawn. Nice! I was in my gown and robe with no makeup and had not even brushed my hair. Who would have thought I would be seeing someone so early in the morning? It turned out to be the Duncan Door man here to install the garage doors on the barn. Before I could get myself together he came back to the house to inform me that he could not install the doors until Toby did some work to meet his specifications. So I am standing at the door in my robe, my teeth are not brushed nor is my hair combed, talking to a perfect stranger - just how I like to start my day.

It all reminded me of other times when Toby has gone off on some trip leaving me to hold down the home front. One time, I dropped him off at the airport in Albuquerque, drove home in the first snow storm of the season, had to start a fire in the old Avery Stove, and then pull some porcupine quills from the dog's muzzle. Or how about the time that I had to check on a calf and it fell over dead leaving me to haul it to the dead animal pit at the landfill? That was a fun one.

Do you see a pattern here? It seems that all my stories have to do with animals. Such is life on the farm.

Email from Jim

My cousin sent this short email to his parents - thought I would share it with you:

I was in a meeting w/ 2 x senators and 1 congresswoman yesterday, but no cameras. Great stuff. Col Ali told them, "I know your American democracy was paid for by the blood of your patriots...What do you want? Should our democracy be paid for without blood?" They were speachless. It was a great conversation. He had Senators Smith and Hatch, along with Congresswoman Harmon on the edges of their seats for about 25 minutes. They asked him all sorts of questions about Iraq and our strategy, etc. It was truly amazing. At the end he said, "Please, don't leave my people in the desert without water..." Enough said...you could have heard a pin drop.
Lov you guys!
Me

Kids, Dogs, and Airplanes

We had a busy weekend, but did not get much done. Friday afternoon we went to the park with the rat terrier and the new puppy. Jesse and some coworkers were playing cricket. Toby joined them because they just looked like they were having much too much fun. I stayed in the outfield with the dogs and occasionally caught a ball that came my way. After the game, we went with some of the players/coworkers to eat at the Chuck Wagon which has some great barbecue and Mexican food. Everyone was silly, and it was a good time.

Saturday morning Jesse left early for her sky-diving lesson. It was a bit overcast all day which made it nice and cool, but iffy for the sky-diving. Toby and I picked up GBN1 and ran some errands. Then we brought her home with us for the afternoon. She kept us highly entertained, but we did not get much done around the farm while watching her. Later that evening we went back to town for a birthday dinner for my daughter-in-law and her father. There was another young couple there with their two daughters. We ate pizza and played games and were entertained by the kids.

Jesse had called me several times throughout the day to let me know how the sky-diving was going. They were able to make two jumps. Jesse took lots of pictures and had some stories to tell. When does she not have a story to tell - life is an adventure for her. She said the sky-diving school seemed a bit “fly by night” and “jicky” but the people were great. I won’t go into some of the details about the place or the sky-diving because I have found that some people seem a bit squeamish about the whole thing. Know that Jesse had a great time, and landed on her feet both jumps.

Sunday was a beautiful day. TFNP and his family joined us after church for some fellowship and fishing. Actually, Jay fished while the wives took care of the younger children and Toby and I took care of the bigger children, which was easy enough. We took the kids to the barn and let them ride the tricycle and the cozy coupe. We also gave them rides in the wagon. Eventually the cozy coupe rider ran over a pedestrian (GBN1) and we came back to the house. The kids played in the sand where the new patio is being built, chased the goose, ran with the dogs, and tortured the kitten. At one point, Toby and my son went back to the barn to do some little finish work on the roof. Jesse was playing with one baby, TFNP’s wife was playing with another baby while I was getting the older kids a drink. Bo began hollering from the roof of the barn - needing some help with something. My daughter-in-law took off to the barn to help them probably thinking they were in some sort of trouble (Jes and I knew better - we know the difference between “I need help” and “I am in trouble” yells) Sara was still wearing her Sunday dress and sandals. Jesse and I are old pros at helping around the farm and had changed into jeans and tennis shoes. We looked at each other knowing that one of us should have gone to the aid of the men folk rather than Sara. Jesse voiced her concern asking if she should go help too. I replied, “No, Sara can handle it and look good while doing it.” Then we saw Sara moving the big ladder from one side of the barn to the other. The ladder is pretty heavy and cumbersome. This time I voiced concern, and Jesse answered, “Naa, she can handle it, and she will be quite proud of herself when she gets the job done.” So we stood idly by and let Sara drag the big ladder around the barn and then lift it up to the men on the roof. We made comments about what a good job she was doing and how nice she looked in her new dress. The Queen (TFNP’s wife) got tickled at us and said we were really bad. Yeah, we are bad, but we really love Sara, and poking a little fun at her now and then is acceptable. We would not tease her if we did not love her. She may be a girlie girl, but she is a great wife and mother. And she moved that ladder just fine all by herself wearing a dress and sandals.

By the time everyone left Sunday evening, Toby and I were worn out and we hardly worked at all.

Just a quick note: I received an email from Soldiers' Angels saying that my cards were now in the SA store where you can purchase them with the proceeds going to SA. If you did not know, last Christmas, I sent my painting of the soldier smelling a letter from home to Laurie of Soldier's Angels NY. She asked if she could send my painting to SA to be made into cards to sell on the SA website. I agreed, and it all came to happen. Everyone should check out the Soldier's Angel website and store. You can read about the SA organization. If you do not purchase my cards, you may want to purchase something to support the Angels who support our troops. It is a great organization.

Painting of the Week

The top painting was done yesterday with my older art students. The bottom painting was done as an exercise/lesson with my beginner class on Tuesday.

Reminders

Someone asked me to put more pictures up of Bruce Crandall receiving the Medal of Honor. Today seemed a good day since I was reminded of the sacrifice our men make for America and our freedoms. The first picture is Bruce and his wife along with Uncle Bob and Aunt Caroline at the Pentagon ceremony. The second picture is also at the Pentagon. The last picture is Chip Parker (helicopter pilot) Joe Marm (MOH recipient) Uncle Bob, and Joe Galloway.

Puppy Love

Okay, this puppy has us wrapped around her huge paw. She is very much a people dog wanting to be with someone all the time. Here she is on a blanket by my feet as I work at the computer. She follows me around all day getting under my feet (but learning better). She likes to be held and be the center of attention. She likes sleeping on the couch or bed, but a soft rug will do. We still do not have a name for her, but she is taking over our house. Ranger, the spoiled rat terrier, is not sure about his feelings for her. Maybe if he ignores her, she will go away. Nope, she is just going to get bigger. Her puppy potty training is going well - she is a very smart dog. In the past, I have always been the trainer, but this dog is Jesse's. She sleeps in Jesse's room and Jesse tends to her. I feel a bit like the grandmother dog - babysitting during the day while the mama dog goes to work. She is beginning to chew on things, although we try to provide her with chew toys and old knotted socks. I worry that she could chew the corner of the coffe table or the leg of a chair because she is going to be so big. Fortunately, she is responding to discipline well. She is so gangly that she keeps us laughing. She did pretty good hopping down the porch steps until she got to the last one. In one big jump, her feet came out from under her and she landed in a splat. This morning, she was pestering me on the bed - biting at my pen and calendar and such. I had gotten on to her several times and she was being silly backing up across the bed. Before I could catch her she went off the other side and hit the floor. She came limping around the bed so very pitiful that I had to pick her up. She promptly fell asleep in my lap. She is just a big baby. She needs a name.

Staying the Course

After much thought and discussion, I don't think I am ready to give up blogging. What is important here is to keep my audience in mind as I write. I will also think about who I am writing about and how it will effect them. Sometimes there will be mishaps. There is always a chance that someone will not like what I write about or will distort my words and get the wrong impression. For those people, I guess you have two choices: talk to me about it or stop reading my blog. There are probably other choices, but those are the two that come to mind.

Here is another report from my Marine cousin. It is similar to his last letter. He also sent pictures of the Iraqi people working with the soldiers in reconstruction efforts, but I cannot seem to get them on my blog.

Greetings from Ramadi!
Back in October 2006, on our very first day here in Ramadi, we conducted a dismounted patrol with some Iraqi soldiers and some US soldiers from the transition team that our team replaced. The patrol started at 0830 in the morning. There were no people on the streets and we moved quickly across intersections and did not stay on the streets more than 2-3 minutes before moving into a building or a courtyard. The Iraqi Army patrol leader took us to a small municipal complex that included a small children’s clinic and the old Iraqi police station. The clinic was closed and there was no sign of Iraqi police at the station. Our inspection of the clinic revealed that many of the supplies were missing – apparently taken by insurgents to treat their wounded. The Iraqi police station was completely rubbled from months of insurgent attacks. Later in that patrol we had a few rounds from local enemy action snap over our heads. All in all it was quite an interesting first introduction to our area of operations.

When our team arrived here in October insurgents had freedom of movement in our area and they attacked us at will throughout our area of operations. There were no friendly sheiks or tribes and there were no Iraqi police stations or police. Our convoys were attacked daily, our bases were mortared daily and we could not conduct patrols during the day without guaranteed attacks from some very skilled insurgent snipers. Civilians would not talk to us - those who did were often tortured or killed by insurgents. Within our first 30 days here, the Iraqi Army battalion I am advising had over 30 casualties, including 5 killed. The Ma’Laab district of Ramadi was a dangerous place with little hope and even less security.

It is now springtime here in Ramadi and appropriately enough, things are looking up. After six months of some tough combat operations, fighting to get to know the people and search for local leaders, we now control our area. Our Iraqi Army battalion runs close to 30 patrols a day, ten of them partnered with Iraqi police. There are close to 10 large civil affairs projects including sewage repair, rubble removal, school clean up, street repair and work on the electric grid. We recently reopened a large mosque in the area that had been used by insurgents to conduct attacks. All of these projects are providing jobs for local Iraqis. Food convoys, unheard of for the last six months because of poor security, now come in every couple of days. The civilians have restarted their soccer league and our efforts to enforce the curfew usually end up getting kids off the streets from their nightly volleyball games.

We now have dozens of friendly sheiks and tribes. We recently held district council elections in the Ma’Laab district. Our Iraqi Army battalion now has its own battlespace and continues to prove its ability to conduct independent operations. Colonel Ali, my advisee, was recently praised by the mayor of Ramadi for his efforts at building security and starting the reconstruction effort in his area. Just today one of the district council members invited me to his house for dinner. People now dare to hope things will return to normal. I cannot speak for all of Ramadi, and certainly not for the entire country, but in the Ma’Laab district of Ramadi, we’re winning...actually, the Iraqi people are winning and it’s exciting to be a part of.

The team is doing very well. As most of you have figured out by the drop off in phone calls, we’re out in zone much more – and that’s a good thing! That’s because it is now safe enough for us to do the work we came here to do. Everyone on the team is supporting the reconstruction effort and it is exciting to watch. 1stLt Tierney has organized work projects in his IA company’s area. MSgt Arnold and SSgt Jones single-handedly organized and completed very large trash and debris clean up projects along some roads in our area. HM3 Drake supervised an Iraqi led medical care program which treated over 100 locals. 1stLt Palmer and Sgt Craft are doing a great job training our Iraqi counterparts on intelligence work and they’ve successfully detained several local bad guys. I could not be more proud of our team. Our US Army augments are superb. They are unselfish and hardworking. This team is having a very significant impact on our partnered Iraqi Army battalion and on the citizens of the Ma’Laab district.

Back to that clinic from our first patrol back in October: I visited that clinic about a week ago and it was teaming with people. I counted close to 20 women and probably 30-40 small children and infants coming and going. The supplies in the clinic were sent there by the Iraqi Ministry of Health on a convoy provided by the Iraqi Army and Colonel Ali. That police station is still in ruins, but that’s o.k. There’s a new police station and 50 Iraqi police that are patrolling the streets. There are also close to 200 men who have signed up to join the police force and we’ll start training them next week. Things are going well here! Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers!

Good Intentions

Please be patient with me as I work through some things. As you know (or maybe you don’t know and I only thought you did) that in the past I have written and been concerned about the content of my blog. On the one hand, my blog is a personal journal, but on the other hand it contains info on other people besides myself. It was never the intention of my blog to hurt, embarrass, or offend anyone, and yet, it seems that I have done just that. Now, I have to pull back and rethink where I want this blog to go. What is my purpose?

As a journal, I tell stories in my blog of my everyday life. Those stories can be humorous, sad, thought provoking, or boring. I have had the view that if it happened, it is blog-able. If it does not hurt anyone other than myself, it is okay. If you know me, then you will love me and understand. If you do not know me, you will probably not read my blog anyway. But I have been wrong. What we do and say does affect others. My purpose was never to cause someone to stumble. It makes me physically ill to think that I may have done that. And I am truly sorry for that.

I am having different thoughts on what to do now. I have learned in the past that anytime I have the urge to cut and run, I probably need to stand and fight or at least continue on until things are worked out. When someone gives criticism or rebuke, it is wise to look for the truth in it, learn from it, repent, and move forward. Sometimes, there is more to it than that, and you have to sort through the tangle of emotions keeping what is good and true and discarding what is evil and false with patience and bearing with one another in all things.

Yesterday, Toby and I drove to Lawton. It was a time of inward thinking on my part and discussing my thoughts with Toby. We had two kittens to give away to one of Toby’s coworkers, and he had directions to their house - west down this highway one mile pass the barbecue sign and one mile south, red brick house on the left with large tree in the front yard. Just as I was thinking “Maybe I won’t blog anymore,” Toby did the funniest thing, and I thought, “I want to blog that for sure.” We pulled into the yard and he said that he was to leave the kittens, who were in a pet taxi, under the big tree in the shade because no one would be home. He set the taxi down under the tree and then stood there a minute looking around as if making sure all was as it was suppose to be. I was watching all of this from the truck. Then the front door of the house opened and an elderly man stepped out. I saw Toby say something to him. The man said something back and pointed south. Toby turned and looked and shook his head as to say “okay”. Then I realized what was going on. I started laughing. When Toby turned to pick up the kittens and get back in the truck, he was laughing too. We were at the wrong house. We were dumping two kittens on some stranger’s doorstep - not a bad idea, but then again…

Isn’t that a funny story? Isn’t that blog-able? No one was hurt by that story (well maybe Toby). Yet, there were other happenings on the trip that I would have liked to share.I know that some of my readers would find them amusing, but what if just one of my readers was offended? It might not be something that would offend me - maybe I can eat the meat of idols, but maybe someone cannot. I have to stop and think about it. And is the thinking worth it?

Great Dane in the Morning

The camera is charged up now. Here is the new puppy. Any name suggestions?

Mother's Day

Jesse has a new camera. Here is a pic of her and GBN1 which they took themselves. I love the looks of concentration on their faces. The second is a pic of the barn raising. Take note of all the pants tucked into boots. That is not an just an Okie thing - it has been raining here for weeks, and it is a bit muddy. When it has not been raining, the humidity levels have been off the chart. And my hair has been fuzzy. Saturday was the first really sunny, hot day - noticed the brightness of the sun on the metal of the barn. There were several sunburned men at church yesterday. Jay made a comment to yesterday's post that was very nice and gave a little more info on the barn raising.

Mother's Day was pleasant. Jesse gave me the movie, "El Diablo" which is one of my all time favorites. She also gave me a kiddie swimming pool which is really more for GBN1 and herself. After church, Jesse wanted to take me to Ardmore to eat at Polo's which is really fantastic Mexican food. Bo and Sara did not go with us. GBN1 cried when I left her at church saying, "Please Booboo, please" It nearly broke my heart to leave her behind. I wanted to take her with us (my one disappointment on MD). Later that evening after stuffing ourselves and taking a big dog nap, Toby and I made the rounds delivering junk and tools to people who left things at the barn raising. While returning saw horses, the Fortney's decided to give us a puppy. Not just any puppy, but a full blood Great Dane puppy. How do you turn that down? We brought the puppy back to Jesse who took it as her own (thank goodness). It slept in her room last night, and she is working on finding a great name for a great Dane. At this very moment the puppy is at my feet sleeping on a rug because it can't seem to walk on our tile floor. I would take a picture of her, but my camera is dead. It is a bit overwhelming. And yet...I am a little thrilled. I see more big dog naps in our future.

Barn Raising

This is how it looked at lunch today. The barn got finished and everyone got fed. Yeha! Three burgers were left over, many hot dogs were left, and only three cats left. Another yeha! By the way, In the group picture that is Toby standing on the far right in the overalls and farmer hat. Bo is close by in a similar hat, sunglasses and camo pants. The Friendly Neighborhood Piper is on the front row (left) with another similar hat. Notice the geese in the last picture. Jesse looks furioso in the second picture. When she was little, we often said she could kill with one of her looks.

Painting of the Week

Several of us painted Mother's Day cards yesterday when we were not discussing my parenting skills.

Busy Day

Getting comments on a post is like eating icing on a cake. It just makes blogging more fun. You never know what will catch a reader's eye - if anything. I do have readers who never comment or sometimes email me personally, but feedback is incentive. Yesterday, no one mentioned Jesse's sky-diving plans. I thought I would certainly catch some flak on that one. Instead it was the rat story that got most every one's attention. When I mentioned Jesse's sky-diving to my older art girls, I got lots of flak. Some were disappointed that their parents would not let them sky dive with Jesse. Others were horrified that we would consider letting Jesse go. (I shrug my shoulders here) Maybe it is because I can personally understand why she wants to do this. In fact, I can understand why she does a lot of things. And most of the time, I think, "You go girl!"

Toby took today off. He is going to be around the house all day getting ready for the big work day tomorrow. Getting the barn finished is exciting for me, because it means getting my carport cleared, getting my store house finished, and eventually getting all the things in our storage unit (in town) here on the Lazy B. It is just one giant step in organization. It also means that Toby can finish my cabinets, do the trim work in the house, and hang closet doors, because he will have a shop to work in. Our yard and fencing will be projects that come next. And some day, I will have a real house.

In the meantime, having Toby home makes me accountable - I have to look busy. Actually, I have lots to do to prepare a big lunch for all of the workers tomorrow and prepare the house for company. I'd better get a move on.

Bits and Pieces

The girl
We have always had to work to keep Jesse reeled in. She has a tendency to be very independent and a bit headstrong. I don’t know where she got those qualities, because Toby and I both still have our independent, stubborn streaks. We often call her a “goin’ Jesse” or “Wheel”. She wants to have fun, fun, fun till her daddy takes the Scion away. While Bo was always willing to stay right with us, Jesse seemed to be constantly wondering off - like when she was three and decided to go to the restroom by herself in a huge department store when we lived down on the TexMex border. If some of you are saying, “But Jesse is almost 25 years old now. She can do whatever she wants.” well we are of the mind that parenting is a forever job and guidance and protection are good things. We give her quite a bit of line to run with because we trust her judgment and know she is a good fish. She gets to do most everything she wants, but she still needs to communicate her plans with us. Most of the time she is pretty good about telling us what is going on in her life, but sometimes she is not. Last night we got home from church quite late. We knew that she and Lindsay had been talking about two vacations this summer - one to NY and one to CA, but we have never been in on the particulars. Jes chose last night to announce that she and Lindsay had set the dates of their trips. Then she went to bed leaving Toby to ask, “Why did she bring that up now? What the heck is going on?” This morning we were able to quiz her a little more and explain that we needed more details and more communication. She gave us a little more info and then said, “By the way, Lindsay and I are sky-diving next week.” Ah, she cracks me up, but she was not joking.

Beautiful Feet
Yesterday I treated myself to a pedicure - something I have never done before. It was quite lovely and my toes look very nice. I asked Toby if he noticed anything new and just got the “duh” look. When I asked him if my beautiful toes were a turn on, I got the look again. He just could not fathom my reasoning to get a pedicure or why I would want to do it again. It was actually very entertaining as well as pleasing. The other ladies getting pedicures were a real treat. There was an older lady in the chair (which massages your back while your feet are soaking in the spa) next to me. Then another older lady came in. She had bleach blond hair with one of those wiglets stuck on the back of her head - very 70’s. She was helped into the massage chair by the little oriental girls. Then she hollered, “Why is their water blue? I want blue water too!” The lady next to me said, “Hode on Sister! Your water will be blue soon .“ Okies tend to drop their L’s and call each other sister. I find that rather fascinating. The wiglet lady proceeded to have a conversation with another lady in the salon - a rather loud conversation where they discussed their physical ailments. Apparently the wiglet lady has some sort of skin disease which makes her skin red and blotchy and sensitive to heat. I wondered what the pedicurist working on her thought - yikes! Lindsay has a story about getting a pedicure in the same shop. She said the lady next to her nearly came flying out of the massage chair. Then another lady said, “Better leave that remote alone. That chair will buck you out!” Going to the nail salon was almost as entertaining as going to an airport. People are so interesting.

Cats
It is time to give away kittens. They are everywhere and into everything including the cat food bowl. The mother cat is leaving them more often. In fact, she went out this morning. When she wants in, she taps on my bedroom window (by the comuter). When I heard her tapping, I turned to see her sitting there with a mouse in her mouth. No way was she coming in with a mouse. The rat she brought in one time was more than I want to do again. I think I have most of them given away, but this weekend at the barn raising, I plan on passing out kittens as door prizes.

Old Posts
I had to read through some old posts - July, August, September of 2005 to find the rat story. You know, my earlier blogging was much better than my present posts. Most of my stories were really funny especially due to Jesse. Her great adventures do keep things hopping.

Susie

If you are wondering why I did not use my Microsoft Word yesterday instead of writing on my blogsite, well, I guess it was arrogance and stupidity. I don’t usually get bumped off my computer anymore, so it has been easy to just type directly on my blog. I was not planning on a storm blowing in and blipping my electricity and computer. That was the arrogant part. Here is the stupidity part. My new computer came with a 6 week trial program that I sometimes used to write my blog, but it had expired. I was not sure if I wanted to pay and install the Microsoft Word. I was just not sure what to do there, and I did not look to see what else I had on the computer. See, stupidity, arrogance and maybe a little laziness thrown in. And it caused me to lose my story yesterday. So today, I am using the word processor on my computer - it still looks stormy outside and I would rather be safe than sorry.

Now for my Susie Story…When we moved back to Red River in 1986, I did not know Susie personally, but I heard stories about her. Lots of transient young people come through RR looking for fun and excitement. Susie was originally from Massachusetts and was traveling with friends that came through NM. They moved on, but she stayed in RR. She eventually married Darwin McHand, who is a story all to himself. Darwin was a trapper/hunting guide. He was known as a hard worker, but he was a bit of a hermit, a real loner. He was also an alcoholic. Susie and Darwin lived up Mallet Canyon in an old cabin without electricity or running water. Susie gave birth to two sons while living in that cabin. One time, they were traveling up the canyon in their truck pulling their mule Jed behind the truck. Darwin looked back to check on Jed, but the mule was not to be seen. Darwin threw the truck in reverse to go look for Jed, but ended up running over Jed who had fallen and been dragged for a ways. They were pretty upset at the loss of their mule, but being ever practical, Susie and Darwin butchered Jed. A few days later, Susie invited the preacher and visiting evangelist to dinner at their mountain home. We were all holding our breaths, but no, she served chicken instead of Jed.

One of the first times that I ever spent any time with Susie and her boys, we were at a baby shower in one of the group rooms of some lodge. The kitchen had a little sink for washing hands - it was just child-height. Susie's boys were running the water in the sink and playing and giggling as if they had never seen a water faucet in a house - and they hadn't. They were so funny. Susie said, "You should have seen them when they discovered ketchup."

At some point Susie became a Christian and attended Faith Mountain Church in RR. This is where I got to know her. She was shorter than me and a little stocky. She had a Hobbit look to her with her soft brown hair curling around her face. She had sort of a ruddy/outdoor complexion with rosy cheeks and never wore makeup. Her brown eyes were much too large for her face, but her wide, easy smile made it all come together in a very pleasant way. She could play the guitar and sing with a beautiful alto voice. Susie was a genuinely nice person and maybe sometimes a bit naive. Early one morning we were driving to Taos together when we passed a man walking down the road. He was tall and slim. He had long brownish blond hair that was stringy and unkempt. He was wrapped in a blanket and barefoot. Susie said, “Oh! He looks like Jesus! Lets give him a ride.” I responded with, “He may look like Jesus, but I bet he does not smell like Jesus, and I don’t want him in my truck.” Susie laughed, but I think she really would have given the guy a ride.

Susie and Darwin moved their boys to a house in Questa. It was still fairly isolated, but it did have electricity and running water. She still cooked on a wood stove. Darwin bought her a washing machine of sorts. It was an old fashion thing that you had to wring the clothes through a wringer. Susie was so proud of it. She had a big garden and Darwin built her a rustic greenhouse. She was a real naturalist. I was just amazed that Susie could cook on that stove, wash in that machine, and live as she did. Jesse and I loved to go to Susie’s house for tea and cake. Susie would go out into her garden and gather mint or whatever, ground up some rosehips she had dried, and make tea for us. She would bake a cake in that wood stove - awesome. She would get out her guitar and sing. We would laugh at the differences in how we were raised - she in Massachusetts and me in Texas. She called feeding a horse a portion of a hay bale feeding it a “biscuit.” I called it a “flake”. Our views of the Civil War were totally different. She would tell me about skipping school to attend a Janice Joplin concert, and time spent with her siblings skating on a pond in the winter. Spending time with Susie was always an interesting and fun experience.

Her boys, Trapper and Jesse Hunter, were handsome young men. They were always polite and easy to deal with, but they were mountain boys like their father. They played with Bo and Jes, and I kept them from time to time. My kids were greatly impressed that Trapper and Hunter could climb pine trees as if the needles and rough bark were nothing. Those boys could trap small animals like mice and rabbits. One time, they finished butchering an elk when their dad passed out after drinking too much.

It was Darwin’s drinking that was the downside to life at the McHand home. I think Darwin was basically a good man, but he had had a bad childhood and sent off to a work farm. It gave him a great work ethic, but not much love. He eventually ran off from the work farm. I think he loved Susie and the boys, but the alcohol was too much for him. He would go off for weeks at a time and Susie would not know where he was. When he came home, he would sleep for days and be surly. Then he would be great for a while. Just when Susie thought all was well, he would fall off the wagon again. Darwin was such a loner that it was difficult to know him, but I did visit with him occasionally. I liked him. One of the greatest compliments that I ever received was when Susie told me that she and Darwin had discussed their future. If anything were to happen to her and Darwin, they wanted me to raise their boys, because they knew I would love them as my own. Theirs was a hard life and eventually Susie gave up and moved her boys back East. I had moved to OK by then, and we lost track of each other. I lost her and the boys. It is one of my biggest regrets.

Lost Post, Lost Friend

My morning was spent in the usual way - catching up on my blog reading and typing out today's post. I was almost finished when the storm hit. Right as I thought, "Gee, I better save this." Crack! And the electricity blinked. The rain poured out of the sky. I lost my whole post. I am sure it was the best I have ever written, but it is gone. Now the day has begun and art class is coming up. Maybe I will try again later. Maybe I will kick myself again. At least we got another good rain, but we've been getting lots of rain lately. And the wind...Aieee (as Buck would say).

I will tell you that yesterday we went to The City because Toby had a dr's appointment. After the appointment, we went shopping. Toby needed new "girl britches". He got four new pair of trousers and two new shirts. Hey, isn't Mother's Day coming up? We met Bo, Sara, the Wild Thing, and Sweet Nell for supper. It was a good trip. On the way home, we were listening to Oldies when we heard Janice Joplin sing "Me and Bobby McGee"(one of my favorites). It reminded me an old friend, Susie McHand. First, it reminded me of Susie because she told me once that she had skipped school to attend a Janice Joplin concert. Second, it reminded me of Susie because like the song somewhere along the way, I let Susie slip away. She was a good friend and we had some good times, but I lost track of her - something I regret. When I have more time, I will tell you some "Susie Stories". I like to think that I was a mountain woman, but Susie was the real thing. Intrigued?

Milblogs

Last fall when Laurie at Soldiers' Angels NY invited me to room with her at the Milblog conference, I was touched. Part of me thought, "But I'm not really a milblogger." The other part of me thought, "Way cool! I could meet all of the people that I read daily!" After mulling it over for a week or so, I had to face reality. Getting to DC for the milblog conference was just not something I could do this year. Making long distance plans is not one of my strong points. There was just too much uncertainty coming up this spring to make plans last fall. Now, I have made trips to Austin, Houston, and Kerrville. With a family reunion to Red River coming soon, I know that it would have been just too much to have gone to DC. Still, after reading and watching videos from the conference, I just wish I had been there. I won't link everyone that was there, but Desert Flier has posted some videos from the conference that are well worth watching. If you have never read any milblogs, these videos will make you understand why you should be reading them. He also has photos and a story of helping a small Iraqi girl - very moving. Duty in the Desert has posted lots of links to the conference, and he has a great post written by By Hoshyar ZebariForeign Minister of Iraq on how our soldiers are doing a great job in Iraq. If you are only reading mass media to get your news on the war, you are just missing out on what is really happening. Americans need to understand what a difference our military is making in the Middle East. Also, I have an update from my Marine cousin on the opening of a mosque in Ramadi. He sent pictures, but I have not figured out how to post them (or at least post a few of them. Here is Jim's email:

Friends and Family,

Today was the re-opening of the Ramadi Mosque (formerly the Saddam Mosque but renamed by locals). The Iraqi Army and coalition forces worked together to secure the site and turn it over to a local contractor for cleanup and renovations. When we arrived two weeks ago, the grass was over 6 feet high, windows were all broken out and the rugs inside were terribly soiled from the hundreds of pigeons roosting in the mosque. The cleanup work was done entirely by Iraqi citizens and Iraqi Army. Today, the city's religious leaders came to reopen the mosque. The imam's message to over 1000 attendees included denouncing local insurgents and Al Queda and praising the efforts and cooperation of the Iraqi Army, Police and American military. (all the photos from inside were taken by Iraqi Army)

Great, great day. This mosque, one of the largest in Al Anbar and the largest in Ramadi, is now a home for Ramadi's devout, not insurgents. You'll notice in one of the first photos, a long pole on the ground. That was a 40 foot pole that we found on the mosque grounds that insurgents were using to push IEDs out of the mosque to attack American and Iraqi convoys. Just weeks ago, the large traffic intersection near this mosque was one of the most heavily IEDd locations in all of Iraq. Today, civilians and religious leaders strolled leisurely across the street into their house of worship.

The Iraqi Army was key to the success of this project. They provided daily security for the site, conducted close coordination with the Iraqi contractor to help hire local nationals for the work, provided some of their trucks to remove debris, and they provided thousands of gallons of water from their resources to clean the mosque's rugs and furniture. They engaged local leaders from across the city to encourage participation in the reopening.

Today was another great day for the city of Ramadi. The city is turning around one day at a time.

v/r

Jim Lively
Maj, USMC

Painting of the Week

Ahh, pastels! This is my favorite medium. It is fast, colorful, and messy. While in Kerrville, I visited The Museum of Western Art. One of my favorite artists on display was a lady named Karen Cooper. She did pastels on black paper. Her paintings were really cool, so I thought I would try the technique also. I have plenty of western photos that would work well with the lighting needed. Here is my first attempt.

I have GBN1 today. She spent the night last night. After playing in the park, eating dinner and watching a movie, we were hoping she would be worn out and ready for bed. No, she was wound up. She chatted for a while before finally falling asleep. This morning we hitched up the horse trailer and helped a neighbor take her horse to the vet. It has been quite a morning. Later we will meet Toby and Jesse in the park for lunch. And then...a nap!

Superhero

I snapped this picture of Toby this morning when he showed me his new "leathers". It was rather a quick picture rather than make him crazy while I fiddled with the camera - that is why it is so dark. He only bought the jacket, but still looks like a motorcycle man (or superhero). Jesse and I both appropriately oohed and aahed over him and told him how cool he was. I was amazed at how heavy the mesh jacket was - and the padding was pretty awesome too. I think he should get the bottoms too. He asked Jesse if her dandies (all the guys have bikes) wore bottoms (I said they had better wear bottoms!). But Jesse said her guys do not wear bottoms, but all have tall boots. Last weekend she went to a bike race where one of the guys was participating. She thought it was cool. I'm tellin' ya it's that wild a$$ thing.

Last week on the morning I left for for Kerrville, Toby came home at lunch to get our trailer and pick up some more metal for the barn. In that few hours, our new neighbors were robbed. Someone hitched up to their trailer and took their trailer, 4-wheeler, lawn mower, a pet taxi full of puppies and some other stuff. It turns out that same morning a stranger showed up at our preacher's house where Reggie's government 4-wheeler was parked on a trailer in their drive way. Apparently the thief thought no one was home and was planning on taking the trailer and 4-wheeler. He rang the doorbell and Pam answered the door surprising the thief who then asked for directions to Duncan (very lame). He backed out of the long driveway (so Pam could not get his license number) and then went in the opposite direction of Duncan. I guess I am going to have to start locking my house - maybe take the keys out of the vehicles. Since the barn is not finished, we have all sorts of things in the carport for the taking. So far, no one has bothered with us. Does that say something about our junk?

On May 12th, we are having a barn skinning. One of the men at church announced that would be a work day at our place to get the metal put on the barn. Yeha! Soon we will be able to lock up all our junk. I plan on fixin' a big lunch for anyone who shows up to work. It could be a party!

Grand Adventure

While traveling home from the funeral on Monday, Toby and I reminisced about some of the moves we made in our marriage. Our first big move was a year into our marriage when we moved from Lubbock to San Marcos to attend college. When Toby graduated from SWTSU in December of 79, we packed everything we owned into our Dodge truck and moved to Dallas where Toby went to work for Texas Pacific Oil (later became Sun Oil Co.) Bo was six months old. Toby hated living in a big city, so we packed Bo and all our junk and moved to Vernon, TX, where Toby worked for a CPA firm and then a tractor dealership. Jesse was born in Vernon in 82. Although we nearly starved in Vernon with my commuting back and forth to Wichita Falls from Vernon (60 mi. one way) I finished my college degree in May of 83. Two weeks later, we packed Bo, Jesse, and everything we owned into a truck and U-Haul trailer and moved 1200 miles to McAllen, TX. Toby had a job, but we had to find a place to live. Bo was turning four and Jesse was almost a year old at that time. I found a teaching job in Mission, TX. Three years later when Toby's job played out, Jesse was turning four and Bo turning seven. We packed up the whole shebang and moved to NM (well over 1200 miles) to start a restaurant. When we moved to OK eleven years later, it took much more than a truck and trailer to move all of our stuff. But Toby wanted to ranch, and we wanted to be closer to our older parents so we took another leap of faith. Jesse was 14 and Bo was 17.

Were we crazy or what? We just upped and moved babies and junk all over Texas and New Mexico and then to Oklahoma - often not knowing exactly where we were going to live and sometimes without jobs. Those moves do not include the little moves to different homes in each place we lived - three places in Lubbock, two in Dallas, two in Vernon, three in McAllen, five in NM, and three in OK. Does that seem crazy? After reminiscing, Toby apologized for dragging me all around the countryside. There was no reason to apologize. It was all a grand adventure. I guess I have a pioneer spirit. Would I change any of it? Well, maybe some things, but for the most part, it made us who we are and brought us to a great place in our lives. I'm happy. I think my family is happy, too.

Catherine

Here are more pictures from the FOF reunion. The first one is Craig and his new girlfriend, Catherine. Catherine seems to be a very special person - not just to Craig, but in general. She is an Associate Dean and Professor - School of Management and Business at St. Edward's University in Austin. Craig teaches a few classes at St. Ed's - Catherine is his boss. At the beginning of the semester and before they started dating, Craig did not realize that classes had begun and missed his first two classes (you would have to know Craig to really appreciate that story). Rather than be upset with Craig, Catherine covered his classes. She is just the sort of person who sees the good in life - she is a peacemaker, a listener, someone who makes everyone feel special. She is a mother and grandmother. She is an USAF brat who has been all over the world (including England and Turkey). Her father was a bomber in WWII and was actually shot down over the North Sea. She graduated from high school in San Antonio and attended SWTSU. Catherine had already graduated and was teaching school when Toby and I attended SWTSU. She has lots in common with Craig. She is a long distance runner, loves Bill and Bonnie Hearne, and has all of Tish's music. Her daughter-in-law worked at Texas Red's in San Marcos and is good friends with Darcy (Nancigail's daughter). If Catherine has any serious flaws, I have not seen them. As long as Craig is happy, I would probably over look any flaws anyway. It should be interesting to see what the future holds for them.