Saturday ramblings

One daughter is at work and one is at play. Lordy how I wish she would start getting a bit more mature. She is STILL in the tree climbing stage. I suppose I should be thankful that she isn't out chasing boys and getting into compromising situations like a lot of 14 year old girls I hear about. She would still believe in Santa if I hadn't told her about it years ago.

I've got to read about 6 chapters today for my class tomorrow and I have to pick up and vacuum around the house. You would think with two teenage daughters I might have a little help around the house. NOOOO! I used to keep a spotless house. That was before children and husband and working all the time. Boy do I wish I could be the mom on 'Leave It To Beaver'. Wouldn't that be a riot. Always wearing that dress with the belt and those pearls and happily cooking in the spotless kitchen and all of the family sitting at the table to eat at the same time. uh huh. Pipe Dreams...... I spent most of yesterday helping a friend organize her home. We did manage to find the living room. Just 4 more rooms to go for her. I threatened her bodily harm if she lets it go again.

Scott is on his way home from work. He is going to have to round up the playing child and get her to bag the leaves in the back yard. She is waiting for 'tomorrow'. After all Miss Scarlett tomorrow is another day!!!

Tonight I get to be a judge for the Christmas parade. Its going to be colder than a well diggers butt in Alaska! At least its a short parade. Then I'll come back home and sit in front of the heater and warm up drinking some coffee and finish my lessons for tomorrow. Theology is an interesting study. The study of God.

Prayer needs

My friend Olivia is back in the hospital. She has been battling breast cancer for nearly four years. It started out with the lumpectomy and all the treatments that go along with that. At the first of this year the cancer returned in the same breast and she underwent a radical mastectomy and all the treatments for that. Then she started having pain. Unexplained, bang your head into the wall pain. She has been to pain specialists and all of her other doctors and there has been no explanation for the pain. So now she has 'over medicated' herself to the point of she can't get easy. But the other thing is, she has fluid in her chest cavity and the fluid has cancer cells in it. So its time for more chemo because there is cancer somewhere in her body and its hiding but its causing her pain. Pray that she will be able to overcome this. She can't continue to live on pain meds and other things and she is going to have a tough time going thru all the treatments again too.

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My second pray request is my long time friend Deb. She has had a bum leg all of her life and a bad spine and a host of other ailments. Her leg is infected and she is in danger of losing it. I am going to her little cottage and help her get her stuff sorted and put away so that she can get a hospital bed into there and she can rest with her leg elevated. She really needs a recliner that leans waaaay back but she is living on disability and can't afford the chair. If I had the money I would get one for her but I can barely keep my own head above water at the moment. So I'll do the next best thing which is go and move her stuff around and make some sense out of her living space. She is a tough and gruff bird on the outside and a crying puddle of goo on the inside. Most people can't get past the tough guy persona.

Friday morning musings/or the world according to Vonda

I stumbled into the downstairs 'kitchen' in my studio area and started heating water for my cherished cup of morning coffee. I don't use tap water. Too many chemicals to murder the taste of the coffee. As the water was heating to the optimum temp of 190 degrees I rinsed out my French Press. The French Press coffee maker is a wonderful tool. I can make 2 cups of coffee any time I want and extremely quickly. It is a tall glass cylinder with a plunger in the top. Attached to the plunger is a fine mesh wire filter. The water is hot and it is time! I put one scoop of coffee into the cylinder and then here is the big goof!! I noticed that I had also put in my required sugar and coffeemate! Into the cyclinder! ACK!! Then I thought 'Oh what the heck!' So I poured the hot water on top of the mixture and placed the top on it and PRESSED the filtered plunger down and it actually made a decent cup of coffee. I won't do it that way again but it's drinkable.

The advantage of using the French Press is I only make coffee when I want it and only make it a cup at a time so I don't waste coffee and I don't feel guilty about having it sitting there on the warmer and then I am compelled to drink all ten cups and spend the rest of the day in a caffine induced whirlwind! The other advantage is it seems to create coffee at its finest. No bitterness, I can actually taste the essence of the coffee bean, and its just an elegant way to make a fine cup of coffee.

Now onto my next morning musing......I ask you who gives a flying rip about Brittany Spears and her PAR***TAY ways? Is she acting like a Mom of 2 very small children? Nope. Is the dad, that fabulously leechy moocher KFED or FED-EX as the loser should be called, any better. Oh nooo! After all remember he was running with the Britster while his girl friend was pregnant with his second child by her. So he is really in the running for Father of Year in my book. Brittany is acting like some of these young and stooooopid moms I have seen. What the heck is wrong with the younger generation! (Did I just say that!?) It's still the 'IF IT FEELS GOOD DO IT' mentality of the free sex ideas of the late 60's and 70's. We are losing our morals people. Wake up and don't just smell the coffee. Drink the bitter dregs of our permissiveness. The very moral fiber of our country is at stake. Pictures are taken of the so called self-important cele-'brats' out partying their little naked skinny butts off and splashed across the national papers and magazines. Used to in the not so far ago past, those kinds of pictures were called PORN! Now its just an Oops she did again. If I want to see a naked picture I'll peep at myself in the mirror when I get out of the shower. That is sobering enough!
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I am disturbed to read that a newly elected politician from some other state is requesting to be sworn into office using the Koran instead of the Bible. This country was founded on the principles in the Bible and not in the Koran. He is a Muslim and he has the freedom to practice his religion in the USA just like all the other religions. I don't care if someone is Jewish (that is a race of people as well as a religious belief; they are after all God's original chosen ones), Muslim (anyone can be a Muslim, not just the Arabic people), Baptist, Anabaptist, Methodist, Episcopal, Catholic, Lutheran, Pentacostal, Latter Day Saints, etc. They all have the right to practice their religious beliefs. But displacing the Bible as the book to be sworn in on is not part of the deal. That is part of the weft and wuff of the fabric of founding of this country. I have already fired off the letters to Senators Lott and Cochran and Representative Wicker. Both email and land mail. Wake up folks before our country as we know it changes! WE can no longer be an ostrich. Things are happening out there, up there, around us that will not be so easy to change back. There are people and nations that are very very jealous of the freedoms that we have. They are intent on destroying us. Some are already sitting back and waiting for the world to change as we know it. The wheels are turning but that doesn't mean that the destruction of our land can't be stopped.
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I'll rant more on that at a later date. My coffee is calling to me and I have to go and help out a friend that is in dire need at the moment. So enjoy your morning cup of coffee and be sure to read between the lines all the news that you see on the tv and in the papers and magazines. Pull your head up out of the security of your insulated life and see what is happening in the world before it is too late. Write to our elected officials on a regular basis and let them KNOW what you really think!

thoughts on teaching

Each year I say that I am not going to teach any more children than the ones that I have. And then something happens that makes me change my mind. Like a child that calls and tells me why they want to be homeschooled or a mom calls with a child that has a special need. Then I have to sit and think and pray about it and see if I can add more veggies to the soup. I have had as many as 17 kids here before and that was some serious stress! By and large it has always been a good experience for everyone but I have had some very difficult times also. I have always known that I was not cut out to teach in the 'traditional' sense of the word. I was never one of those kids that fit into the round hole. I was the square peg. That is the kind of kids that I teach. Square pegs. That is not an insult to them. They just have different learning styles that don't fit in the 'traditional' schoolings methods.

I do use a curriculum that I use along with the Charlotte Mason method of teaching. I believe in reading, lots and lots of reading about anything and everything. Learning is a life long experience. And it should be enjoyable. Although I can think of a few times I learned some things that weren't too enjoyable. But life is like that you know!!

A season or a lifetime?

People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime. When you know which one it is, you will know what to do for that person. When someone is in your life for a REASON, it is usually to meet a need you have expressed. They have come to assist you through a difficulty, to provide you with guidance and support, to aid you physically, emotionally or spiritually. The y may seem like a godsend and they are. They are there for the reason you need them to be. Then, without any wrongdoing on your part or at an inconvenient time, this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end. Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away. Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand. What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled, their work is done. The prayer you sent up has been answered and now it is time to move on.

Some people come into your life for a SEASON, because your turn has come to share, grow or learn. They bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh. They may teach you something you have never done. They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy. Believe it, it is real. But only for a season.

LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons, things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation. Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of your life. It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant.

Christmas lights

Scott has worked hard all year on this little light project of his. I want to make a video later on and post it. This doesn't do justice to the display withtout the music. The songs that the music is synced to is Charlie Browns Christmas, Snoopy's Christmas, Elvis' Blue Christmas, Rocking Around the Christmas Tree, Canon in D, and Trans Siberian Orchestras, Wizard in Winter. It is pretty awesome that we even were able to pull this off. So far its 15,000 lights and we could have put up more but we don't have enough channels yet. Maybe next year will be bigger and better.

Traffic out front hasn't been too bad. People are kind enough to pull over to the side, stop, watch and then move on. Some are a bit curious about the radio frequency. They just don't understand what is going on. Then some of the folks that I didn't think would understand did. Go figure! Anyway, tune to 100.3 FM. to hear the music that goes with the lights.

I hope that next year we have Handel's Halleluia Chorus and some Manhiem Steamroller synced in. I see light and color when I hear music and I think other people should too.

family reunited after 60 years

My mom finally met her two half-sisters this week. It has been an amazing time for our family. Back in 1932 when my Mom was born, my grandfather left to find work. He left my grandmother behind because she was pregnant. For whatever his reasons were and for whatever the circumstances were, he never sent for my grandmother and mom. Maybe he was not ready for a family. Maybe he thought once he left that he could not come back. No one really knows. My grandmother Sally never said a bad word about him and I never heard my Greatgrannie Russell say anything bad either. After 5 years he divorced my grandmother and remarried and started another family. Thing like that happened in those times. It happened on my Dads side also. I've just never been able to find where my great grandfather Tedford went.

Mom met her father for the first time when she was about 15. They didn't hit it off at all and Mom never tried to see him again. She knew she had two younger sisters but they didn't meet until now. Their father, my grandfather died in April of 2005. There is no longer a barrier to them having a relationship. It is really neat to see how 3 women, all raised in different circumstances have so many similarities. They sound alike, they all have the tenacity of a pitbull! And they are all opinionated. They arrived on Wednesday for Thanksgiving. It has taken months and weeks of planning to get them together under one roof. I have seen laughter and tears and squealing and jumping up and down. My mom was in a hard jerk she was so nervous. But she has finally met her two paternal sisters and the meeting was good. Now she can add them to the family. When her other half-sister that she shares her mother with, comes home from overseas, it should make for an interesting homecoming.

I like my two new aunts. Talking with them about the branch of the family tree that I didn't know has explained a lot. I now know where the art talent comes from and the extreme love of learning. The features and the temperament; We all resemble very much.

There is a copy of an old photo in the display at the museum that our town is working to create. It is a photo of the log workers in 1929. They are standing and sitting on a huge log that is loaded on the old Lindsey wagon with the team of mules. My grandfather, their father, Marshall Gray, is perched up on that log. I can finally say that without upsetting my mother.

The water has gone on under that bridge and my mother and her sisters can now be a family even if it has been over 60 years in the making.

Gobble Gobble!!

I love good food and for that reason, Thanksgiving to Christmas is my favorite eating time of the year for the comfort foods. Mom's Chicken and dressing is to die for. then add the sliced turkey and honeybaked ham with all the wonderful relishes to add to them. Oh joy! We always do our specialties. I do the green bean casserole or asparagus or broccoli casseroles. IT depends on the whim at the cooking moment. I also do the pumpkin pies and other types of pies. I do a mean seven layer dip. Dipping foods are my favorites. anything that I can dip italian flat bread into is good. I made a yummy spinach artichoke dip this time. My sister does a sweet potato praline casserole and a hot corn salad. Add all the regular veggies like sweet peas and black-eyed peas and tall glasses of sweet iced tea and hot yeast rolls and you have a feast that will make you want to fast all week before you eat it! We always wear sweat pants on Thanksgiving. Gotta have that elastic waistband in order to be comfortable.

a relationship with food

WE all have a relationship with food. We need it to live. Obviously some of us like it a lot more than others. I read in last weeks news that a model died from eating nothing but water and tissue. Can you imagine eating kleenex tissues for lunch. She didn't want to get too fat for the clothes. I need to lose about 25 pounds but I am not going to resort to eating kleenex just to fill me up. That is a mental sickness there.

I did eat some good food Saturday! We made a Memphis trip to see the in-laws and do a bit of Christmas shopping. We ate at Smokey Bones. Its owned by the same company as Red Lobster and Olive Garden. So it is fine food. Its a rustic, mountian lodge/sports bar sort of atmosphere. I ordered the Sierra Chicken and it was to die for (pardon the pun) . grilled chicken breasts marinated and basted with balsamic vinegar and served with a fresh cucumber, red onion, sunflower seed, cilatro, jalapeno and dried cranberry salsa on top and warm Italian flat bread. Oh mercy it was great. I am going to try and duplicate the salsa for Thanksgiving. Its as good as my Crankey sauce I put on my turkey sandwiches.

I am fasting all week so I can eat all the things I love on Thanksgiving day.

Just Random Tuesday thoughts about friendship

Did anyone ever have a BFF? A best friend forever? It sounds so childish doesn't it? People come and go through out your life and some touch you more than others. Some touch you in a good way and some leave scars that you have to sooth time and time again. Some are there for a short time, some are in and then out and then in again. Friendship is not a static thing. Or at least it hasn't been for me. I remember my first BFF. It started in the 1st grade. I was friends with most everyone in my classroom in 1959. One in particular I played with outside of school and during the summer. We shared Barbies and did all sorts of silly things together. Then as we got older and interests changed we grew apart and developed new friends. Somewhere around junior high age. Then along came highschool and O my Lord! I sure would not want to re-live those days. I still had my friends but being the geeky sort of person that I was, I was sure not in the 'in' crowd. And that used to bother me a little. All through my university years I had friends that had the same interests as I did. Everyone was an artist. I learned to pull from within and that a BFF was really not necessary.

Throughout my years on this earth I have had the priviledge of being friends with many men and women. I never have gotten really close to any one tho because of some things that have happened. I learned NEVER to share what I may of considered a deep dark secret. Those will get used against you somewhere down the road. I still will give the shirt off my back to someone that I care about it even if they do bite me. I just don't ever really understand why they turn on me. I am a sucker for a sob story most of the time. Even tho I am skeptical of some things and in my silent thoughts I am thinking, "yeah uh huh. You are so whiny or so _____ (fill in the blank with the adjective or your choice)" , I will still try and help someone. I suppose I am trying to fix things and make everything right for the other person. At my emotional expense usually.

A thought came to me this morning. It was not an epiphany, just an observation as I tried to call someone for the umpteeth time, I am always the one doing the calling. Maybe its because I am always moving around and doing something that I am not near a phone. Maybe people don't want to bother me. OR then again maybe its because I have rubbed people the wrong way. As someone has noted to me, I do tend to say what I think. Don't ask me if you look fat in those jeans. I might tell you yes. Just like I look fat in mine.

I married my BFF 17 years ago. And that is a good thing. I could be a lonely person with out him and my family.

Scott and the Christmas lights

Every day more lights are going up. And every night we have to see if they are blinking like they should. Pretty soon the space station should be able to see us. Scott and dd number 2 are out putting the lights up on the gazebo roof. Purple and yellow. Because I like purple and we have an abundance of yellow! He still has to put the star at the top of the mega tree and the cross on the chimney.

I really hope we don't have the light vandals like last year. Teenage boys cut our lights up last year on Christmas eve. It was the Grinch that stole Christmas. It upset Scott so badly that he took down every thing on Christmas day. He has spent all year working on these lights and this program.

I was right about my kitty

She was lying right at the back door that we never use. Poor thing had been shaken pretty badly. We planted yet another kitty in the pet cemetary in the hill. Duchess was old for an outdoor cat. She was born right when I had my mastectomy 6 and 1/2 years ago. That little furry thing used to curl up in my lap and nip at my fingers while I was going thru the healing process. She out lived her Mom Furball and her twin sister Fuzzy. Duchess was one patient cat. She would hang for hours in the top of this dead oak in my yard and wait for the pesky woodpeckers to come home. She brought me many squirrels and birds as 'gifts'. Once she brought me a flying squirrel and it was still alive. I brought it in and saw that it was disabled and put it in the bird cage. 'Wally' lived for over a year coming out to glide at night from shelf to chair and shoulders. She never did get over the fact that I took her lunch and raised it.

I sat and watched her hunt one afternoon. It was amazing the amount of concentration and the stealth that a cat possesses. I also realized that I did not want to hunted down by a carnivore! All of the cats zeroed in on a mole this summer and it took them 30 minutes to move just a few inches. Each twitch of the tail must of been a signal to the others on when to move. And they caught a whole family of those yard destroying varmits. IT was an eye opening show.

Packing food for the food Pantry

We met all the Methodists down at the Pantry to pack food to give out Saturday. This months box is pretty awesome. 2 pounds of chicken, 2 lbs of beef, 3 boxes of jiffy corn bread mix, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, english peas, cans of fruit and other veggies, spaghetti and sauce. Cleaning supplies and milk and a huge box of cereal and cookies. Next month we have to spend the FEMA money so that will be on a ham for each box. We packed up 216 boxes. Last month we gave out 218 with a few left over. So this month there may or may not be any left. The Lord sends us the right amount of people each month. As our donations have increased the people coming have increased. Last month I had a huge donation of baby formula. We don't have any infants on the list. Then the last person that walked in the door last month had her great grand baby relocated to her home and they didn't have WIC. I loaded her car up with all that formula. He gives us what we need so that we can in turn give it back to the community.

After we loaded and stacked the boxes, we all went to eat at Vera Cruz. That blew my carefully planned dietary restrictions out of the ball park. I will have to be a really good girl for the next few days to make up for all the salt!

If you know of anyone that might have the need for the pantry let them know about it. I don't always have food there, but once a month we do. Give them my name or tell them to call Sr. Mary Jean at the Catholic Church or any of the Methodist churches in Bruce, Vardaman or Calhoun City. They will call me and get a box of food to the ones that are hungry.

reconnecting with past people

The internet is a wonderful thing. Oh yeah it takes time to surf but it is great for finding out things. Take for instance, people. Back in my highschool days, when the dinosaurs still roamed the earth, my family played host family to some international students at Ole Miss. Two students, one a medical research graduate student from South Korea, and the other a business major from Japan. The Korean, Lee stayed in the US and had a medical practice in Illinois. WE hear from him time to time. He is now retired due to poor health. His claim to fame was he worked on the now widely used treatment for Parkinsons. The other student, Hideaki Beniya, went back to Japan and stayed with his family business. We visited him in Japan and it was a great experience to see that culture. He has been back here a few times when business travel brings him to the US. You know the Karaoke machines that you see in bars? I mean the real high dollar ones, not the cheap knock offs, well he is the mastermind behind those things.

We lost touch with him after Daddy died and I stumbled across his website yesterday. I sent an email and I heard back from him this morning. It was a surprise to him that I found his address and it was a surprise to me that the message I sent through the business information site actually did get directed to him. I can just see some little Japanese person seeing a message requesting that Mr. Beniya contact his sister in Mississippi USA. They are probably sitting there thinking, He has a sister in Mississippi? What is a Mississippi? The last time he came, he brought one of his business partners who had never been out of Japan. They came to Bruce, and this little guy couldn't speak any English. He did discover that food is a language all by its self. He discovered southern fried chicken and blackeyed peas and corn bread. We have never seen anyone enjoy something so much. By the time he left for Japan he was saying 'pass the chicken ya'll.' with a southern accent on his Japanese. It is good to reconnect with people that have crossed your path in life.

A Thursday kind of GRRRRR!

Why do people that own dogs let them run loose at night? I have 5 cats. Well probably 4 since I haven't seen my oldest cat in the past 2 days. Duchess, the queen mother of all my cats is absent. Due to her advanced age and this cold weather I am hopeing that she has holed up someplace dry and warm. Last night or after midnight at least I heard a bark. Then growling. I opened my back door and there stood a very healthy and stupid black lab. Stupid because he didn't try to run from me. I was pretty stupid to jump right out on him too. He was harrassing my other 4 kitties that were all nice and dry and cozy warm in their little igloo that I have placed up high for them. It was all hair, teeth and claws in that thing. They would have won the battle if I hadn't come out side to run off the offender. He just doesn't realize how lucky he was.

But I still have to wonder about people that let their barking dogs run at night. Jerks!
Anyway you should try living next to a kennel. They won't call it that but anyone that has a bunch of dogs penned up is running a kennel. There should be a limit to how many dogs you have penned up. The smell is horrible in warm weather. And they bark. not in the day time. All night long. I have talked about it to both sets of neighbors and I won't do that again. Some people are just unreasonable or the fall into the classification of DGI. "Don't Get IT". I am sure all of you know a DGI. They are the ones that are oblivious to anything that is not bothering them. Like parking crooked in a parking lot so that your vehicle has to park even more crooked and it looks like you are the bad driver. Grrrrr.

ITs Wednesday.

Man, if I don't hit the keys just right this thing will go all over the place. My pinkie wants to hit the enter key every time and I find myself having to back track constantly. Supper is finished (meatball hoagies with a salad full of good stuff!) I actually only ate half of the sandwich. Got to keep on watching my portions. I have set a goal and I am going to get there. slowly but surely.

Scott and E have been working on the lights again. Just a few more tweaks and they will be finished. The timing on the music and the lights is going pretty well. I just hope that the little thugs that cut all of my lights last year won't do it again. We had to rewire and replace a lot of them because the little creeps cut them off at the plugs. I hope they got a good shock. This year I will catch them cos they will be on video. I know who did it last year but I couldn't prove it. And some Moms just don't think their little precious would do such a thing. Ha ha. I know exactly what mine are capable of and I sure won't say they wouldn't do something. My girls know I'll bust them when they do something wrong. And vandalism is wrong. Last year it was on Christmas Eve and it just ruined our Day.

E has been working learning all about the lighting sequences. That will go under computer technology. She is working on some science now. We have all sorts of text books for her to use and plenty of subjects on cd-rom. She goes at her own pace which is slow at times. I have to light a fire under her ocassionally. She would rather not do work. She is also a night owl like me.

The weather here this morning was something else and tonight may prove to be rough too. I think that bad storm that hit the West Coast is finally on us. 65 mph wind gust and 2 inches of rain per hour. As expected the seepage started again in the laundry room. Good thing there is a drain in the floor. A river sure does run thru here when it comes a heavy rain like that.

I got the room I use for my studio just about organized late last night. It is a long narrow room and I have my freezers and an extra stove in one end of it. So its art and food storage. The upstairs kitchen wasn't built like I would have designed it but then that is what I get from a house built in the 60's. Its not the best designed kitchen. very little cabinet space or food storage. ANd you would just have to see the dinky little fridge. I will have to remove some cabinets to put in an updated model.

Well I think I will ease on to my drawing board and get to work on some paintings I planned out this morning. I've got to do 3 for Mom and her two sisters for Christmas presents.

Support Group

Well I have gotten several replies and calls already so this is my sign that the time has come. I don't know where we'll meet or who the sponsor will be but I am writing letters and making calls and getting this ball rolling. I just feel that the time is right for a local support group for survivors and caregivers alike. With the incidents of cancer that keep cropping up in our area, we all need to pull together and lean on one another. I adhere to the thought that laughter is the best medicine and it really helps people to heal and fight. Spread the word that we are trying to get a support group going. It'll be all women, you know that. Men just don't like to admit they need instructions or directions. But maybe we can wake them up too.

Help Fight Cancer. Buy that cookbook. ITs got great recipes from Relay team members. This county should be as famous as Paula Deen with all the great cooks out there!

Trying to organize a Cancer Support Group

If anyone is reading this, I am trying to organize a Cancer Support Group. There is one in Oxford but not every one can drive up there or to Tupelo. I don't know how many people we would have to come to one but its worth a try to see I think. If you know of anyone that is in the Bruce, Calhoun City, Vardaman areas that would like to know about this tell them to contact me. or leave a comment for me and I'll get in touch with them. I've been very fortunate since my round with cancer that I had a lot of people to talk to and support me. I don't want anyone to go thru the experience alone or to think that noone understands what they are feeling.

Somewhere over the rainbow

There sure isn't going to be a rainbow today. I was partially awake most of the wee morning hours watching the storm as it moved thru. that's one of the drawbacks of being a weather spotter. Having to call in the weather reports to the National Weather Service in Memphis. Now there is hail predicted for this afternoon and I'm trying to figure out where to park vehicles so they don't get peppered with dents.

When the air temps get this unstable and its cold then hot then cold I start looking for funnels. Thank goodness for my partial basement. I do feel safer down here. Its probably a false sense of security but I'd rather take my chances down here than in the top of the house at the top of the hill.

The dry creek between me and Mom is so full that I can't see the rocks lineing the sides. This squalline dumped well over an inch on us in the past hour and more is on the way according to the radar. Guess it is time to pull out the ole leopard print water boots. So Chic!

My Fellow Relay for Lifers

Oopsie. Surprised ya'll with your pictures. Well You all represented our Calhoun County well and I'm proud of ya! Carolyn you know I'm over the top on some things. This ain't Vegas ya know. Sure do wish I could have gone with you all. Sounds like you had a great time. And we will all pull together again and git'er done right again in 2007. Love ya'll!