The Holiday

We had such a wonderful time this past 5 days. All of our children and grandchildren were here. This is the first time in over 2 years we have all been together. We have even added 2 members since then. One married our oldest granddaughter a year ago and the other isn't in the family just yet. Since he is in the picture, we are keeping him around. Molly and Josh will be married in March. There are 20 of us with the Ranchers Mom and we love everyone of them.

Adding to our days of togetherness were 4 dogs. Mattie, a Border Collie, is the oldest granddog. She rules everyone is 16 and 1/2 years old. Kelsey, the Carolina Dingo is 7, I don't know how old the SweetieGirl is as she came to our son as a stray and is a Lab mixture. The newest member of the canine crew is Chesney. She is almost 4 months and is a Golden Retriever. The Rancher and I don't have a dog. We don't really need one...Sweet Girl lives just down the road and is here as much as she is at home. Every dog is inclined to think they are housedogs. Well, in fact THEY ARE. The Rancher and I never had one of those either but we had 4 over this Thanksgiving holiday. Aren't we blessed?

It is a fact, that the Rancher would never let a dog be in the house, but he wants all of the kids and grandkids to be here so he goes with the flow. I do hope that we don't have anymore additions though or the rule might change. I am not so agile as I once was and making my way through a maze of dogs on the floor can be a challenge.

We had a traditional meal on Thanksgiving day. The hunters never got the longed for deer but we had dove from the freezer and other fowl for our "beast feast". We have grandsons that love to hunt and we proudly fix what they bring in. (as long as it is something edible)

I remember as a child, I went hunting with my cousin. We bagged a squirrel and my Aunt was so delighted. She dressed it and fried it for supper with biscuits and gravy. Now, you know there wasn't much eating on a squirrel but we thought it simply delicious. I haven't had one since so I am not so sure how it would be today.

I wanted one of my blog literate daughters or granddaughters to help me change my blog but time did not provide that. As you can see, when I tried to do it myself, all I succeeded in doing was remove my picture. I decided to quit at that.

My next job is to put my fall decorations away and bring out the Christmas greenery. I am not into it as I once was so I might take a day or two before I really get in that mood. I love the fall colors in my house. I just makes me feel warm and cozy.

Thanksgiving is over and we do have so much to be thankful for. I am first of all thankful for God our Heavenly Father and for the Son that was sent for our Salvation. I am thankful for my family, friends, that I live in this land that I live in. The list goes on and on. We are all so blessed.

Seven Things About Me.

I recently received an assignment from the youngest daughter..The Nurse, to post seven things about me that you might not know. Well, in fact there are probably a lot of things about me that you don't know. There are some things that I don't want you to know. Some things are better left to myself.

I will share some things though, such as the fact that I hate Root Beer and Licorice. I don't know how and why such things could have ever been invented. It is a good thing I don't like them because I can say there is something I don't like. I like most everything edible. Some things are better than others but I am not picky. I guess that would be number 1.

The second thing you might not know is that I am not fond of escalators. I am sure there is a name for that fear. I am afraid I will put my foot on the wrong spot and stumble and make a fool of myself. I have always been that way. My smallest grandchildren delight in them and I cringe as I place my size 11 shoe on the step and take off. Maybe that is the clue.....a size 11.

I also like old movies. Just the other day I was thinking about a movie made in the early 50's called Moonlight Bay starring Doris Day and and Gordon McRae. it was on the TCM network this weekend. I was excited. I loved Doris Day. Whatever happened to her?

The fourth thing you might not know about me is that I procrastinate. Okay so everyone knows that. I just have so many things to do that I just take one day at a time and never get ahead. I always think I will get it done and end up burning the midnight oil once in awhile. A good thing came out of it though....My daughters are all very efficient. Didn't I do good. Maybe I just overextend my own abilities.

I went to school with people who became famous. Jane Jayroe and Jimmy Webb were in High School with me. Jane became Miss America, a news reporter, author, promotes Oklahoma Tourism...the list goes on....and Jimmy Webb. Oh Jimmy he has so much talent . He has written so many songs that are my favorites. He was an accomplished pianist in HS and the unknowing girls quartet that I sang in thought we had to have another girl to play for us. Weren't we stupid. He did play for us as we sang in the student center. He even wrote a song for my friend who I think he must have loved at the time. That would be number 5.

number 6...I am worried that I am getting more like my mother. That is not a bad thing but I just don't want to get out and go shopping anymore. I used to like to shop some but not at Christmas time. I always loved to look through the pages of the catalog and plan what I would order and not be tired from looking in all of the stores. Looking at the screen on a computer and going from one site to another is not the same as flipping pages and turning the corners down.

I love digging in the dirt. I love the smell of freshly turned, moist soil. I loved to drive the tractor when the ground was just right. I like seeing what will grow from a small seed. I marvel at the wonder of God's plan and how one tiny seed can grow into a giant tree. That is 7 and enough said.

What are seven things that I don't know about you????

A Tribute to my Dad

On our recent fishing trips I decided to take a road we had not traveled for several years. This road took us through the town and area that I spent my early childhood. It also took us down the first and last road that my dad worked on during his career in the Oklahoma Department of Highways.

Traveling through Arnett and south on Highway 283 brought back a lot of memories to me but when we came to the South Canadian River and crossed the "Packsaddle " bridge I had a longing to be a child again. This area had fond memories for me and my family. Returning home I found this poem that my dad wrote about "The Bridge". It had always been his dream to be a part of building a new one over the river if the need came. It was his last job before his retirement.

Cuttin' The Ribbon By Pat Richard

This little piece of ribbon maybe ain't so much to see.

Just a shiny scrap of fabric, but it means a heap to me.

Cause to me it signifies the realizin' of a dream.

That someday I'd help to build a bridge

to span this might stream.

For long the South Canadian was a river wild & wide.

And the only way to cross'er was to ford 'er at low tide.

Until there came an Engineer by name of C.V. Word.

To build a bridge, the like of which home folks had only heard.

A majesty of structure built of concrete, steel & wood.

He built it high and handsome and he made it strong & good.

To stand the awesome pressure of the river at high flood

And after fifty some odd years, still straight & proud it stood.

They named the bridge "Packsaddle" for a creek that runs nearby

And many came to cross her and to gaze a wonderin' eye.

But nothing lasts forever, so they say, and it is true.

And the thing that men call progress, done what nature couldn't do.

For though she'd whipped the river and had never known defeat,

The behemoth trucks of modern times have made her obsolete.

So now we have replaced her with a structure wide & new,

And we named it the "Buzz Bradshaw Bridge, Packsaddle Number Two".

She too will stand the test of time, she's solid, sound & true.

And I know she'll do the job just like she was designed to do.

I watched her rise from bottom up, she'll stand for many a year.

And I had a hand in buildin' her, as Resident Engineer.

So as we cut the ribbon maybe you'll forgive my pride.

Cause I think she's mighty pretty reachin' out from side to side.

And I hope she stands a hundred years for all the world to see

Before thy had a need to build, "Packsaddle Number Three."

A friend told me to post some of my Dad's poetry on my blog and I thank him for asking. Dad was a poet in his own right and mostly enjoyed writing "Cowboy Poetry". I will have to share some of that with you at a later time.

It is raining. Isn't that a wonderful way to start the week. As I look out the window at the pines and cedars I can also see the ice crystals starting to form on the higher tips. It is the time of year for colder weather and the TV said it was sleeting in the western part of the Panhandle .

The weather has been so unpredictable the past week. Yesterday there were several tornados in our State and some damage was done in rural areas. Nothing in the towns or cities. If you are the person it hits, it doesn't matter where you are. The destruction done to ones property is a hard blow. High winds in excess of 90mph were also reported.

This past week end the Rancher and I along with part of our children and grandchildren had a good time fishing at a State Park Lake in central Oklahoma. Yesterday that area was hit by a tornado. I am thankful we came home the day before. A camper is no place to be in a storm. We probably experienced the tremble of the earthquakes while we there but we just thought it was the force of the Oklahoma winds blowing down the plains.

Did you see that I mentioned earthquakes? Yes here in Oklahoma, that is getting to be a regular occurance in the central part of the state. Evidently the 5.7 tremor on Sunday morning was felt all the way to Wisconsin. I wonder what will be next. It mentions all of these things in Revelations. I am not going to dwell on that though, as only God knows the time of Jesus return, but I sure am working on being ready to make the return trip with Him.

I am watching the cardinals, Jays and finches feeding at the feeders. I love bird watching. They all share at the feeder and only when the ring neck dove or grackle come is there trouble. I don't know why they have to be so pushy. I guess the Jay birds are sort of bossy too. The quail are under the cedars eating the milo that The Rancher has scattered for them. I have other birds joining at my feeders lately as the days get shorter and colder, they come in for their handout.

This has been enough of a ramble. Hope that you get a good rain if you need it. We sure did.

Trick or Treat

Again it is the time of year,

To sit the pumpkins by the door,

When witches, on their wispy brooms,

Across the heavens soar.

The night is dark, as legend says,

When spooks and goblins roam,

And motley crews of pirates

Take siege of every home.

There comes a rapping on the door,

A face is peering in

A pumpkin Jack o lantern,

with a leering, toothy grim.

They cry out "Trick or Treat!"

Those rascals at the door

Who come each year on Halloween,

They've all been here before.

There is a gypsy girl, a skeleton,

And Pirates I can see,

A cowboy and Darthvader,

Are looking in on me.

There comes a tramp in disarray,

His knapsack on his back,

A big black cat, his tail a drag,

With an overflowing sack.

We greet them all, who come our way,

And do our best to please,

With popcorn balls and apples

And a sack of favorite sweets.

I didn't have many tonight. Our community doesn't have so many children anymore and they often go the distance to town. We are always happy for them to stop in and see us though and the Rancher and I have fun too.

Sitting on the middle age seat of life has been very humbling. Now some people might think that I am old. I am not! Well, maybe somedays I am old but I don't want to be. My Mother once told me she felt the same as she did at 65 as when she was 21. She then explained...Not physically but , she was still the same person. I was skeptical about that until I reached this time in my life. Guess what? I am the same person only different.

I have different ideals and dreams. Did I really want to be and English Teacher? I did, but I fell in love and married instead. As an adult, I remember that no one really liked their English teachers for all of the research, reading, writing that they had to do. I did like my English teachers though. I had two wonderful ones when I was in High School. One was very young and one was as very old. ( I thought) The younger one taught my children and I was glad that she shared her knowledge with them. They thought she was old. Isn't it funny how things turn around.

Why wasn't I brave enough to venture out a little further into the world? I have lived in three neighboring counties for all of my life. The Rancher has only moved 3 miles from where his parents brought him from the hospital so I guess I was a little more darring than he. In my growing up years, we didn't know there were so many choices. We lived in an area that had been tamed by our grandparents. They were the adventurists. They came in covered wagons from all parts of the Country and many never saw their families again. They started families of their own and made new friends. I thought it was hard to move into a new community and my parents were 45 miles away. How hard was that???? My worst adjustment was the fact that there were hardly any trees. Today I wouldn't change it. I love looking across the country at landmarks many miles away.

At one point in my youth, I thought I might be a missionary. Children always have dreams about different things. I knew that God wanted me to do something special and that was all I could think he wanted of me. My Mom told me that would be a very hard thing and I had to be really sure. (She had thought about beind a preacher herself) Here I post a note to my family who might think I am crazy. This is the truth. She practiced in the pasture and her mother could hear her all the way to the house as she preached God's word. Anyhow, I did grow up to teach children in their Sunday School classes and I know that is what God had planned for me to do.

I also dreamed of living in the mountains. I never even saw one until I was 21 years old. I had seen enough pictures to know how beautiful they were and I never once thought of the cold in the winter. I am thankful that I live where I do but I would like to spend more time in the mountains in the summer and fall months.

I would like to change the appearance of my blog but when I went to the site that I usually go to for new gadgets......I was advised not to go there because of potential virus.

The computer is smarter than I am..I think. There are some things that I wonder about though, such as some of those little unknown words that we type to identify ourselves. What is Unwin? Does that mean that you won but not really, so you have to "unwin". Maybe it is that you didn't even win at all. Today it was stilup. Is that a misspell for "still up"? I could have a lot of fun with these words but you get the picture.

Another thing that bothers me is the spell check. Why doesn't it know what word I mean? Sometimes I spell a real word but it is the wrong word so it doesn't make sense where I use it. Am I suppossed to know everything? That is why I have a computer with spell check.

This generation of young people is the first generation to have access to the answer of almost everything. All they have to do is go to the computer. They can find the answer to it all on wikipedia Of course it might not be quite true, but it someone's idea of how it might be. Kinda scary isn't it. One might go around thinking something is fact when in FACT it is wrong.

We interupt this story for a wonderful announcement. IT IS STARTING TO RAIN. Well, at least it is sprinkling and the air smells good. How is that for a news flash?

The cardinals are at the feeder. I love to watch them as I sit at the computer. I tell myself that is the real reason that I sit at the desk. I am trying to wean myself away and get on this every few days. Really, It robs me of time that I could be doing something useful such as clean, paint wash windows and all of that. I blame not getting anything of value done, on the computer. When I sit down here after lunch it was to look for a good camping site in Oklahoma, somewhere we had not been for awhile. Somewhere to go and enjoy the fall season and fish and just kick back. Maybe we will be joined by friends and I know our children will come when they can. My intentions were good but then I got to surfing...reading blogs...Not daring to go to facebook and seeing what was news. I better get busy before the Rancher comes in. First I have to play a game of free cell and solitaire. See what happens......I am addicted....