A Different Start to the Day

 Sunday afternoon out in the glorious weather, cutting up dead sunflower stalks, checking the dried out flowers for seeds and a general cleanup of the side flowerbed was a great way to spend Sunday afternoon. The only interruption, getting the trash bins down to the road. There is always more work to be done and I might venture out there today. I should venture down to the front flowerbed but think that will be saved for the next really cool day. 

The sound of a cat attack pulled me out of my quiet time yesterday morning. I rushed out to the garage to check on things. Boodos wasn't there. The mystery of why Boodos bugs King Herod baffles me. Boodos is lame somewhat and mentally not the cat he was before the onslaught of constant stalking and attacks by KH. I have provided several spots for Boodos to be out of harms way but it seems harm came looking for him. He wasn't around all day. The Feral Fam was somewhat subdued and the ones that don't hang out here, just eat mainly, hung around, especially in the garage. I walked the yard to make sure Boodos wasn't somewhere hurt and I told Roy last night that Boodos might not be back. Thankfully, I was wrong because he was on the steps for treats this morning as well as for breakfast. A little worse for the wear, but interested in food. The other cats especially Toupee and Junioretta love him and watch over him but they are no match for the mean KH. Thankfully, KH didn't show his face last night. 

I started Eugene Petersons biography this weekend. Still in the chapters of his growing up years but the insights to his early life clearly show what an impact they made as he pastors and writes. He worked in his father's butcher shop and that is where he learned to see the sacred in the ordinary. 

Roy probably made his last recruiting trip to Louisiana Tech last week. He is feeling a bit sentimental yet goal oriented over it. They have hired some of the brightest and best in accounting from that university. He let the others do the interviewing and speaking in the classes and he felt he has helped the next generation that will be making those recruiting trips in the future. His technique became accomplished and fine tuned due to his working in Toastmasters. He told me something he said in one of the classes and it cracked me up. I am so proud of him, because he has come a long way in speaking before groups. Law school taught him how to organize his thoughts and Toastmasters, being able to share his organized thoughts. We got to talking about humor and how it is a powerful tool that most overlook. He overlooked it for a really long time but he has seen the light and I helped, said in my best shake and bake commercial voice. I get so tickled with people who have to announce, many times to remind people, that they are funny. Uh, no not really. It is mainly contrived and an attempt to be relatable when they really aren't. I often think of someone I knew in Houston that pretty much announced anything they did out of the ordinary for their personality type, which to most seems to be, they want to be the boss of everything and sometimes stifle the creativity of others or feel competition from it. Most humorous people enjoy the funny of others and the creativity that abounds. It inspires and many times joy upon joy is experienced, you know iron sharpening iron... The best teacher and mentor in humor for me is Peggy Bain. She taught me how to develop bits and the powerful use of humor in a crowd. I often think of a women's retreat we did for a church in Katy. It was a rather serious church in their approach to discipleship and learning. The two women leaders I met with were hesitant to use Mildred and Gertrude and I assured them that if they were disappointed in us, they didn't have to pay us. Their retreat topic was a rather heavy topic and depended so much on interaction at the tables of the gathered women. Frankly, if I don't relate to the people I'm sitting with, I'm not participating. Just polite head nods. Well, Mildred and Gertrude said stuff that everyone thinks about churchy type things but doesn't say out loud. We also asked Lisa P to help us with the ending, musically. Through laughter and humor, walls came down and that opened up the Saturday teaching to greater interaction. I met with one of leaders after the retreat and she apologized for being skeptical and loved she had seen how God can use humor to open the windows of heaven. 

Speaking of humor, I watched most of What's Up Doc yesterday. Funny still today even after seeing it so many times. The documentary of Pauline Kael was on after What's Up.  A long time ago when movies meant something to me I loved reading her column in the New Yorker and I had a couple of her books. Movies lost their allure, so her reviews were not so important to me. I watched a little of it and then realized seeing snippets of movies that I never had seen and had chosen not to see were included. So, I changed the channel until almost the end where they are wrapping up her life and purpose, deciding whether she was a good critic or if she was self serving in her reviews. I haven't a clue but I do know I discovered her while reading a critical review of the movie The Sound of Music. It is not one of my favorite movies, unlike so many who love it, yet she didn't like What's Up Doc. 

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I am still missing Buddy and guess will in some form or fashion forever. Mornings are the hardest sometimes cause we sat together, she napped, I quiet timed. She knew if I put her up on the arm of the chair, I was coming back after refilling the mug with coffee. This morning I thought of her because we blended in when I wore the gray jammies with sheep on them, along with the gray furry bed jacket like thing and that's what I have on this morning. During this past year as she narrowed down and gathered the wagons health wise, this was the one constant, morning time together. 

This morning I caught the Feral Fam sleeping in. I went out to the garage instead of treats on the steps because no one was out there waiting. So, it was a full house so to speak. Boodos and Junior came wandering in and Junior cleared out the interlopers to his specific spot. Toupee has moved to another location closer to me while breakfast is prepared and has been eating there but sometimes Tippy noses her out. They are discovering the warm places prepared for them to sleep when the temps drop even lower. KH showed his ugly face last night and success in keeping him away from Boodos. Ever since last winter when I finally let the Feral Fam sleep in the garage, thinking I was doing them a big favor, they have done a favor for me. I have been given the gift of a closer look into cat lives and the interaction. Everyone of them is kind to Boodos, well not Mama Cat but she isn't too kindhearted anyway. The way they play, eat, sleep and hang around, shows complex interactions with one another. 

This morning I fixed a protein breakfast. Toast and yogurt are my staples, but this morning eggs and bacon for a different start to the day. 

Boots, Flannel and Adventure...

 Another foggy and cool morning in paradise. The temps will continue to warm up but we will have another cool spot soon. Of course when I saw warm up, it is 80 degrees that I am talking about. 

 I recently learned what an ADU is. ADU, accessory dwelling unit usually placed on a single family residence lot.. Why not just say shed, storage shed or she/he shed or like people prone to hyperbole, a barn. Even though I call these things Snake Dwellings, Roy is trying to negotiate with me getting a shed for garden tools. The only reasonable spot would be in the front yard but it wouldn't be seen from the road. We have a big portion of our yard covered by those extraordinarily high fir trees between Josh and us. It could go there or over in the corner where  honeysuckle and morning glory vines are consuming a fence. Probably not a good place since it would be in the path of our rain divergence plan and could be washed away and Josh would think we gave him a new ADU, shed or barn. So in the spirit of not drawing snakes to a shed, I got a lot of stuff cleaned out of the garage and off to the Habitat for Humanity thrift store. While getting that stuff out, I also rearranged the winter sleeping places for the kitties. It also affords an easier access to Christmas decorations. 

Another thing I learned last year while gardening, gray t-shirts do not draw bees or wasps. Brightly colored t-shirts do and it is rather distracting to the work when bees and especially wasps are buzzing about. 

Since I am on a learning jag this might or might not qualify, but I do not like flies, nor their offspring, nor fruit flies, nor maggots which is fly offspring, but especially hate that form. There are a variety of fly traps in the garage and we even have one of those tennis racquet fly killers. A little zap sounds signals their demise. The racquet is harder to use than one would suppose and a little bit of a blow to this former tennis player. My backhand is better on killing flies than my forehand. Opposite of those days on the courts. With cooler temps, the flies diminish a bit but it is a continual fight until the cold of winter. For fruit flies, besides using the cute traps, I read that spraying Wondercide kills them. Wondercide is an essential oil blend and it really works for spraying pets, yards and porches. Comes in four different scents. 

I treated myself yesterday to a quick trip through the Hobby Lobby that just opened. Going in, a lady who was heading in herself said to me, the new toy store is open. She qualified by saying, for us, it's a toy store. Well, for those so gifted but I told her I was there to see if I can pick up any talent through osmosis. 

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We had another conversation about getting a shed and that conversation got me into action. The corner of the garage with all the haphazardly thrown shovels, rakes and hoes with a couple of trimmers and a chainsaw thrown in got rearranged and cleaned out. Have a couple of tools to take to Habitat next week. I took a pic and sent it and I think Roy was rather pleased with the end result. Shed purchase averted for now. 

After taking care of the corner, I pulled up more sunflowers. The birds have pretty much gotten all the seeds. This week after learning that it is safe for the birds once again to fill feeders, got all the feeders filled up. The favorite two are the ones that hang in the pear tree. The last section of sunflowers are blooming now. This is the first year planting them in week increments. The two snowball plants, well I thought they were snow ball plants, are hydrangeas. They are planted near the fence behind and to the side of the hemlock tree. 

Since I was out working and then made my Exxon, CVS and TJs trips, I missed watching the LSU game. They won, so that's good. To my surprise the Baylor game was on here so that was fun, then nerve wrenching and then fun again. Flipped between that game and the Arkansas/Aggie game. I'll not comment because of many Aggie friends, but Arkansas looks good. Seems like LSU is trapped in the past. So many comment about the 2019 team but you cannot move forward if you're looking back most of the time and in comparison. 

Driving while old...yep, it's a thing and I am close to the point of not listening to music when I drive. Half the time I don't because I crave and need lots of silence. And if and when I am going to go over the speed limit it is usually because I'm singing with a song on the radio. Even driving a Mustang convertible, I drive the speed limit, except when singing. You could question any driver behind me cause they are not pleased that I don't use my car for the need for speed. I like the convertible cause I can park it and I can take in all of the seasonal beauty here. It soon will be three years and that Christmas music singing debacle in Woodfin will be off my record. I know that on 25 it goes from 55 to 45 rather quickly and I am keen on keeping within the law. But yesterday, I think I skimmed over into the 45 going more like the former speed. I had just begun to slow down when I saw the state trooper on the side of the road and I braked... I looked back, he wasn't following me. Got a break, made the turn to get to the river road but the thought of the trooper stayed with me. My habit because it is such a beautiful drive is not even to drive the speed limit, but under it. So to my surprise on a glance in the rear view mirror, there was the trooper. He stayed back at an observation distance. I did not take a drink of Diet Coke, I did not change the radio station, and I did not make a phone call, because all of that is distracted driving and a cause to be stopped. We came to the bridge and I hoped he would go on. Turned on the blinker, made the turn and so did he. Up to the next turn and again, used my signal to indicate a turn and he turned with me. As I came close to our road, again indicated a turn and fully thought he would be making the turn as well and I debated how I would back in to my drive as per usual without him thinking I was making a "move." I turned and he gunned his engine and continued down the main road. I was shaken up and once I opened the garage door, I stayed out on the driveway in case he came back. Fed the cats, placed my decorative gourds by the gate, and then fed the birds. I had called Roy to tell him what happened and he said I should have called 911 to make sure it was really a trooper. He had heard stories of late, women being followed by someone who had a vehicle that looked like law enforcement, just to be stopped to rob them. Of course, I had the top down on the car, so phone conversation is difficult and it would have been a distracted driver issue as well and I knew the officer was legit.  I am mad at myself for drifting into the lower speed zone and probably the trooper followed to make sure if it was a slight mistake or a habit. Mistake...for sure cause I was singing with a song from my young adult years.  Or, he could have just been going my way, but it sure didn't feel like it. Believe me, I am thankful for the grace I received yesterday, but I did have a slight afib moment over it and my goal in this season of life is no afib. Years ago, in another Mustang Convertible, Dena and I were pulled over in a Chicky parking lot by a mall cop. I think he thought he had two teenagers making an illegal turn within the parking lot. You know Chicky, their drive throughs while fast yo go through are somewhat tricky to navigate. He was disappointed when he realized he had stopped two middle aged women trying to get an ice tea before they closed and they closed while he talked to us. He tried to get ice teas for us but Chicky was closed for the day. I talked with one of the policemen that worked at church and asked if a mall cop could give a ticket. He laughed and then really laughed when he heard I drove a convertible and assured me mall guy could not give me a ticket, only imped ice teas. My last convertible adventure is one from long ago. Peggy had a Mustang convertible. We would raid her costume closet of blond wigs with big floppy southern belle kind of hats. Then we would drive around. Guys would be behind us and drive up next to us and get the shock of a lifetime as we made goofy faces and waved at them. Ah, good times. 

And to think I had done all these errands wearing my dressy muck boots, a denim lined with flannel shirt over a tshirt and a visor trying to hide the fact I had dirty, unwashed hair. 

In The Most Ordinary of Times, Memories

 This morning feels like autumn came in and is making herself at home for the next few days. I say welcome, enjoy the stay, don't be in a hurry to leave, sit a spell...what a lovely way to start the day. After the rain yesterday afternoon and that cool breeze took over, I pulled out my ratty tatty comfortable, like a good friend flannel shirt and wore it for the rest of the day. In true old lady style, it didn't match a thing I was wearing. Add the muck boots and I am sure when I went down to the road to get a delivery out of the mailbox, people were just plain jealous of the stylings of an old woman on the first day of fall. 

The original plan had been to get out today, drive to TN and enjoy the scenery and then stop at a few of my favorite places. I just did the Covid check for that county and the rating is extremely high for the spread, so not going to go do that today. That would be a really wise choice, so now, plan B, which isn't a bad plan, just to get out and enjoy the day. I need to buy a new Bona mop since I destroyed, accidentally, the one we had. When moving furniture it is always good to check the path, which I did but then, moving the couch caused the mop to fall into the pathway of a determined woman moving furniture. 

Today, one week since Buddy left us for Kitty Heaven, I emptied her water dish but just not down the sink but out on a plant on the front porch. I wrote before this dish is really the last tangible place that Buddy touched and lived. I could put up toys, didn't bother me. Fed the Feral Fam an upgrade of Fancy Feast that was Buddy's but the water dish, so difficult. Had a brief gratitude ceremony before emptying the dish. There are still days when I almost call for her and I woke myself up the other night, calling her name in my sleep. That cranky, but sweet, ornery but loveable Buddy, left a hole in my heart but she left so many good times and memories to fill up that hole that her lack of presence has left. A side note of sorts, I never let myself cry over HP this summer because it felt like Buddy probably wasn't very long for this earth. Had that brief hope that my neighbor had really seen HP, but after seeing the cat she took for HP and it wasn't her, I think a few HP tears can and have mixed with Buddy tears. 

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The temps were in the low 40s upon awakening this morning. Lots of fog as well and it is such a beautiful morning. The Feral Fam, treated and fed. I spent a lot of time with them last evening as I sat guard. King Herod has been gone for over a week and a half but he showed up yesterday. He began harassing Boodos, in the garage, where my kitties play...felt like a little Godfather shoutout might be in order. Boodos was the only cat in the garage at that time, so I shut the door. Boodos doesn't mind at all the garage door being shut. KH stuck around but finally I was able to leave guarding for the evening and the rest finished up their din din. Pick on Boodos in front of me and there will be a confrontation. His walk and demeanor show he has suffered life changing injuries from this horrid KH. 

After a dismal spring/summer reading list put out by all the book people and orgs that I follow, the fall/winter reading list looks so much better. April and October were those months I looked forward to when it came to reading, especially anything in a southern genre. On the fall list, many take place in NC, so that is a plus. This week while cleaning out bookshelves, I know I should read what has been around the house for awhile, but the promise of new books is always a happy moment and the vows not to buy anymore are broken. Just like the flannel shirt vow was broken earlier in the month. 

Note to self, stop reading books that make you think right before going to bed. Restless and fitful sleep and the new little refrigerator for the bonus room doesn't help. It makes the weirdest noise so I am going to try shutting the door to the bonus room and hopefully that will dull out some of the periodic noise. 

Sometimes memories from long ago just pop up, uninvited to my mind. This morning while putting on my shoes, I remembered a long ago Sunday School class meeting. We were in a couples class and as we all sat around and talked with one another, the meeting turned into the serious business of the class. I don't even recall who was in the class, but our teachers hosted the fellowship/meeting/who knows why we were assembled, thing. The teacher was one of those kinds of guys that was the hero to every story he ever told. If it hadn't been for him...kind of thing. He wanted the men of the class to go out and do, whatever we had gathered to discuss or plan, and the women could stay home and pray. Like prayer was punishment for being women. Truthfully, it was the most important part of the unremembered mission, but probably it was just busy work to him, you know, keep the women out of our hair while I, oops we, go and do great things for God.  After some bravado and pontification, Roy spoke. I was never more prouder of Roy than at that moment. He said, this all sounds fine and good, but so far you've relegated all the behind the scenes tasks to the women of the class, what are you afraid of?  He continued, it is good to help but tell me, as I am searching for a job, more than a contract position, and as I daily assure Nancy that God has not forgotten us, in all this "ministry" when are we going to take the time to learn how to be strong in the Lord at home? When as men, do we take time to pray together?  How do we trust the Lord when it is so difficult to do so? Why are we doing things to be noticed by the church, when most probably most of us sitting here have so much to say grace over. It would be nice to have some encouragement from men who have gone through this, so we can love and reassure our families consistently. You could of heard a pin or even a pen drop. Roy had done the unspoken thing, he showed vulnerability in the middle of machofest ministry. It was as if he had never said anything and they moved on with the discussion of the macho ministry, whatever it was. On the way home Roy suggested we find another class. Hey, I was for that. I didn't fit in with the "holy" women of the class, but that is another story for another day. One never knows what will pop in at the most ordinary of times, although some of my best Mildred and Gertrude songs or ideas came while brushing my teeth. 

LAB Work and Autumn

 

First day of autumn 2021. I am happy to say goodbye to the summer of 2021. It has been one of the most puzzling seasons. Hotter temps than normal and a tremendous sense of loss and this is before losing treasured pets, HP and Buddy. This entire summer has felt foggy, not only on the landscape but in my brain and surrounding my heart. I was talking with a friend yesterday, in person no less but socially distanced and masked up, and we both remarked we are just tired. Tired of Covid life or should that be wanting a lack of Covid life. Weary would be a good word. Making decisions about where or how or what and sometimes why. I think I will need to extend my sabbatical several weeks past the original deadline. I miss Sunday mornings with the Joy Class and church but due to circumstances the furlough will need to be extended. It is not a fear, but making wise decisions and choices. 

This morning Toupee cleared the garage when she jumped onto a cardboard box that couldn't support the weight and the jump. Since Junior has reclaimed his spot for his own dish of food, Toupee is trying out new places to get her own bowl of food. Only Biggio didn't scatter, he stayed and ate his breakfast in peace for about a minute, then the Fam returned while I picked up the mess that Toupee made. They certainly have made themselves at home in the garage. They finally found the cat bed on the shelf and several sit in lawn chairs just waiting for the next thing. They are so funny. They sleep on the standing tool box, on storage crates, on soft sided coolers...even in a box or two. When it gets cooler they will probably mosey on back to the corner I made last year. Too warm for them now. 

This season other than fall, is also for me a season of LAB Work. LAB? Life after Buddy. It is a quieter life although she had gone rather stealth in the past few months. When she was a kitten, we got a collar with a little bell on it so we could hear her. We continued that until she got in a garage fight with Riley and Riley ripped that collar right off of her. Buddy came out from under the Mustang with that look of, "for goodness sake, rescue me, NOW!" I did have a flea collar on her these past few weeks. Don't think it did a bit of good but I felt better when I let her out on the back porch. Entry and exit are easier without being on the constant guard or the stressful constant guard when guests were here, for Buddy to try and escape. There would be weeks that her attention was all on getting out to see her mortal enemies and then she would go months without her giving it one lick thought. Although, you never knew when the decision would be made to be interested again.  Haven't gotten used to running just enough water to pour into the coffee pot. We always did a little extra to top off Buddy's water dish until changing out the water a little later.  I've decided her water dish which has been lying in state, will be emptied tomorrow morning. That will be a difficult thing to do. Of all things, that blasted water dish. Sixteen years is a long time, three residences, gone from work to retiring, celebrated many occasions and went through multiple sadness'. Buddy was a great therapy pet. Like many of y'all have shared about your pets, they stick by when you don't know how you're going to make it through. As I mentioned the summer of 2021, it held those feelings of depression and no energy to do the simplest thing just like the summer before Buddy arrived in our home one lovely September day. 

Got a text from a friend about all the SBC mess in Nashville this week. I vaguely have an idea that it is about cover ups for pastors and the like who have sexually assaulted selected and gaslighted church members as well as other issues and concerns of the day, important racial issues. For one, it doesn't surprise me because the guy who is leading over all this, let's just say, by their fruit you shall know them. It only took once watching his TV ministry from his church to see what motivated him and how this guy operated. When our Houston church was looking for a pastor, there were several staff members who thought they might call this guy to be the pastor. Thank God, even if he was considered, he wasn't called. I don't know if my friend, who isn't SBC anymore, wanted to discuss or what. Yesterday, I was knee deep in paperwork and then shredding all the out of date stuff and getting a handle of the paperwork crisis of 2021. It is not that I don't care about the victims, I do, but I don't know that the text conversation would be edifying on any persons part. Most of these mega guys don't care for me anyway, it doesn't matter if they be senior, executive, children's etc... I speak my mind, share my opinions and if they are short men, my height bothers them a great deal. So again, for the majority of my Christian and partially non Christian life, do the mega men get enshrined on a pedestal. What has my attention and prayers are concerns in our Sunday School class. Loved ones with Covid, loved ones having surgery, loved ones waiting on test results...chaos and crisis in our everyday lives. Not power trips on a level of upper denominational leadership. Not covering their butts although there probably should be some kind of sweeping out of the mess. The survivors and victims do have my prayers and for the hope to turn to fact of what they went through and getting predators out of ministry all together. When you take a relationship you have with Christ and turn it into a brand, you're going to have problems. 

It's dark in the garage and we had a second night of red laser light chase. More participants this evening, even Boodos. Boodos, had several run ins with King Herod and has permanent damage to his legs, but even Boodos got involved tonight and it brought a tear to my eye. Biggio and Toupee are the best with Sweetie coming in third. Even Baby played a little this evening. When one is staying around the house, this is the blog posts that will be written. 

Autumn came in this afternoon with rain showers. It was 59 degrees dropping in an hour from 74. It feels wonderful outside and with the high in the 60s tomorrow, it feels like a ride in the country with the top down kind of day. They are forecasting a vibrant leaf season this year. I think in 2015 was one of the most vibrant color years ever. 

Yep, LAB work is happening this evening as I try not to think about last Wednesday night. What a sweetheart, what a kitty kitty, and I'm trying not to be a mess. 

Tri Peak Tuesday

 Sometimes I forget to go outside and watch the sunrise. Many times I am not awake to watch the sunrise but now that I'm getting uninterrupted rest, sunrise watching might become a thing. Got the Feral Fam treated and fed. Junioretta discovered one of Buddy's beds that I put on a shelf for easy window viewing. I believe she is the first to finally discover it. 

I was out early this morning. Needed to go to the Post Office, haven't picked up mail in a week and a half, went to the bank, and Publix. Brought groceries home and semi put them away and hit the road once again going to The Fresh Market. So, I think I am ready for two and a half days of rain. That's what they are forecasting. 

My neighbor Nancy just came by on her way to their compost pile. She and her sister went to Disney World last week for Nancy's 50th birthday. Sounds like she had a really great time. Told her about Buddy and we talked ferals for a bit. They have a miniature horse coming to board with them for about three months. She said he is the cutest thing, so I will enjoy watching him in the pasture above us. 

Yesterday, I moved furniture. Big, heavy furniture. From the living room, through the narrow opening by the stairs and into the front room. I've been thinking about this change for years. I am a little sore today from all the heavy lifting, pushing and pulling. Told Roy good thing I am a spatial see and doer. What a task but the hardest and heaviest part is done. Most of the mid range work is too so I am left with those little bitty "where should I put this" stage. 

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Greetings from the mountains, a rainy day has already started. I missed my window of opportunity to get out and pick up the trash can by the road. Didn't get down there last night because of the rain. We have a flash flood watch, but we are hoping for just enough rain to water the plants and trees and not enough to create waterfalls in the backyard. During the window of no rain, the Feral Fam was treated and that Punky, came onto the back porch. Shocked me but thankfully, she left after about a minute. They also have had their breakfast so maybe they are set for a day of napping. 

While moving a table yesterday, a little toy of Buddy's showed out a little from behind the thick leg. It was a catnip toy she loved and would chase it till she could chase no more. She had several of them because she was notorious for chasing them under small openings of bookcases and the like. It made me happy to see that little toy. I didn't cry cause it has been a while since she felt good enough to chase something. I would get out the little red laser light and she would look at me like, you don't even respect my intelligence do you. This past week in bits and pieces I have either put away or thrown away or given away things related to Buddy. The kitties are enjoying a level up on treats, with more flavors than usual. What's funny is, I just can't bring myself to empty her water dish and put it up. If she wasn't hanging with me, she was right there by the water dish that last twenty four hours. Ironic is that, everyone kicked or spilled her water because it was in the way of getting to the stove. Seemed like a logical place cause rarely do I make my way to the stove. Her water used to be by her food, but she didn't particularly care for that location. Roy said, that would have been the first thing I moved. I think I'm keeping it around at least for one more day to remind myself, there were a lot of good days with Buddy. More good days than bad but like all pets can do, sometimes she was in the way. Sometimes she demanded and needed so much. Like the water dish, she refreshed and sustained me in some very tough days. Those days she didn't demand, she gave. After every cardioversion and ablation, right there beside me. Home from bilateral knee replacements, she stayed there on my lap. I think she knew she wasn't long for the world as she stuck by my side the night before we went back to the vet. Only, this time it was me giving her the care and companionship. We stayed up all night, tired me and OCD Buddy. I knew those rituals were comforting to her. Throughout the summer she narrowed her world. Funny though one thing she didn't stop, she would round the corner and come into the upstairs hallway. If I was on the couch, I'd call her name and slap my thigh like you do when you call a dog. She made a running bee line and executed the jump onto my lap perfectly. She even did that last Wednesday night. 

I've noticed some comments on one of the most creative magazines of late. The comments tend toward, wow, that mag has lost its creativity. Before they stopped shipping to the US due to Covid or something, the last two issues had been rather disappointing with more articles than colorful inclusions of stickers, notebooks and ideas. The articles on mindfulness, staying in the moment. I like that, I try to do that but dang, when I'd buy the magazine, it wasn't so much for mindfulness. They had great calendars and notebooks but I don't even know if they are doing calendars this year. Not that it matters cause none of them will make it to the states. 

Our dark foreboding morning has a little sun coming through. I was able to get the trash bin and pick up mail in the box. A card from Appalachian Animal Hospital. So touching and sweet. Made the trip down and back worth it. I tumped the bin over to drain and I'll clean it out later on.  Hopefully, I will get everything accomplished today. It doesn't help that Tri Peaks is double points today and I am trying to get past the gold grandmaster title. 

A Gathering of Reflections

 Yesterday, Roy encouraged me to get out of the house and go do something. It just didn't feel right to do so but today, I decided to venture out to purchase some decorative pumpkins for the fall display by the gate. I worked on that a bit yesterday putting out hay and such. Found reasonably priced gourds and pumpkins and the plus, shopping outdoors. Still wore a mask though. I kind of didn't count on it raining but most of the rain showers were light in nature. 

The morning began a little teary and it is strange even when I was driving or shopping for pumpkins, I would begin thinking about Buddy and I'd hold back tears. It felt like an instrumental kind of listening day, and it became more specific with hymns. Beautiful scenery, with life giving music.  

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A foggy Saturday morning. The Feral Fam has been treated and fed. Toupee has been inching closer to me and I've been able to pet her, briefly, but this morning she ate her food right by me. I know its the food because she ate where I prepare their bowls but even with me moving around, she didn't move away. 

Wednesday holds the first of fall and we might actually receive temps that would be considered fallish. Most of the weather people here think that once Wednesday hits, the hold of heat will be broken. Even though I kind of vowed to myself not to buy any more flannel shirts, I have broken that vow. Dang, they are so cute. Thursday morning should be in the high 40s. Great back porch morning coffee weather. We bought a heater fan for the back and it works wonders when it is a little on the coolish side. I'm thinking with those kinds of days, being back out in the garden, getting it cleaned up and out for next spring just might be inviting. I have tulips and daffodils bulbs to plant but that will have to wait until November. 

With today's temps being coolish to warmish, I went to the Ingles in Mars Hill. Beautiful drive and saw the changes the trees and plants are making. Mars Hill University had a football game but the traffic wasn't too bad. 

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Late in the afternoon, yesterday, I began cleaning out the area where we had Buddy's litter pan. Without having a laundry room, we have a laundry closet upstairs, and the half bath downstairs so little, we bought one of those hidden types that kind of look like furniture and put it behind the desk in the front room. Concealed and in the room most guests and friends wouldn't ever be in. That sucker is heavy. I just did enough to get the big box out onto the front porch. Got most of the litter granules removed. I'll do a good cleaning on it and it is going to a good home.  Today, I will work further on the process of moving around the furniture in that room. Now, I work at a pace that is much slower than from the long ago years. That would have already been done back in the day, but it's not back in the day, it's today. I also realize that once I get Buddy's things out, her presence in the house is truly gone but her presence in my heart remains. That little stinker left me a good bye gift behind a chair. Oh Buddy, you truly had the last word poop. 

Over Mary Joyce's home and through the trees complete with all the undergrowth and critters, is a church. Mountain View. I can see the top of the short steeple from the bonus room window. The church will be ringing its bell soon. I miss hearing it most Sundays cause they ring it after I have left for church. I miss being at my church but the decision to give a four week sabbatical to us'ns that fight illness with compromised immune systems or weakness gives us a fighting chance to stick around. Choices of where and when have gone back to last year's choices. Being careful but not fearful. Making this choice was not based on Covid numbers from the county or even from people having it at church (well maybe a little), it is based on how hard it is for me to fight viruses. Flu, Covid, colds...and the additional stress they place on my heart, yep the decisions are made on how it all affects my heart and circulatory system. Also, the sign for me that I am stressing my system with too much, whether it be good much or bad much is a sore throat. Now, whenever I get that, it gets my attention quickly. 

Several evenings ago I saw the black and white cat that my neighbor thinks is HP. I can see why, but as it turned and ran away, the markings on the back legs let me know, this was not HP.

I watched my first LSU game of the season last night, well until the third quarter when they put in the back up quarterback. Even though they were playing Central Michigan, they had a better look than from the highlights of last weeks game. The defense was fun to watch. Hope this trend continues.

Again, thank you friends for calls, texts, and FB messages. Your kind words and encouragement has been helpful traversing the sadness of losing my little Buddy. I had the thought this morning to prepare myself for the time when I get out Christmas decorations. My mom made a Buddy Christmas pillow...I shed tears every Christmas cause my mom gave me so many handmade or purchased ornaments and the joy of remembering her will now be enhanced by also remembering Buddy, who to her credit never tried to climb up the Christmas tree.  

A Little More Buddy

 The morning once I got home went so quickly but this afternoon it feels draggy. I find myself doing things as if Buddy was still here and just not in my heart and thoughts. Coming in through the backdoor, prepared with something to block her attempt at an exit. A delivery arrived in one of those plastic mailing bags. Buddy loved to chew on those and we had to keep them out of her reach cause chewing on petroleum bags is not a good thing. The front and backdoor to the porch are open getting a good breeze. Buddy, would be in her element. I noticed on the way to the vet this morning, the way the clouds were low on the mountains and into the valleys, the scenary perfectly fit my heart and the breaking of it. Beautiful but a melancholy look. Buddy and I had lots of adventures. She had more frequent flyer miles than I have ever hoped to have. When we had her with us driving back to Texas in 2019, Buddy got loose from her carrier. We had stopped in Chattanooga and Roy didn't double check the door being latched shut. She ran under a parked car and when I called for her, she came running to me. Most cats take off and we are so thankful that she didn't get away or run over. Roy felt so bad over the whole incident. He asked me not to blog about it until after Buddy had left this earth.  Buddy although a rather good flyer was not a road trip kind of cat. Once we figured out that as long as she was sitting in a lap on a road trip, she was good. She didn't mind the collar and leash.

Buddy had gotten down to one sheep. It was originally from a museum in Chicago but once it came home with us, Buddy commandeered the lamb. She did that with so many of the stuffed sheep I had collected over the years. We finally just put them in a wooden box for her. When she would get upset over the fact that we had been gone too long, she would begin dragging out all those sheep and left a trail from the door to the bedrooms. I was Buddy's sheep herder for many years. When she moved up here, she kind of gave up on spreading sheep everywhere, but by the time we got here, she had calmed down quite a bit.  

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The description that Dr Sarah gave Buddy was, she has a big personality. Of course now and even at the time I appreciated her saying that. It is a nice description of a cranky, persnicketies in abundance, moody and touchy cat. Sassy was another description she said and I would think that every vet who has come into contact with Buddy up here would think the same as Dr Sarah, but they might not have been as generous in the euphuism, "big personality."  The vet in Fulshear, Let's just say she didn't put up with Buddy's shenanigans. She told Roy, I used to race in the Iditarod, tough dog/sled race in Alaska, this little kitty isn't going to intimidate me. She was gentle with Buddy but didn't take her attitude. 

I will have to admit, it was so nice getting a full night's sleep. I went to bed around 10:00 and woke up refreshed a little after 6:00 am. I didn't wake up once in the night. Probably the reality in the coming days will reveal to me the how much we change our lives and schedules to adapt to our aging pets. Not complaining at all, but this realization just dawned on me. This morning I didn't have to sneak out to give treats or feed her mortal enemy, The Feral Fam. Last night as I put the keys and my glasses on the nightstand, they didn't have to be moved over to accommodate Buddy's jump onto the nightstand in case she didn't stick the landing. Now, I can read in bed because until the past few months as Buddy's health declined, if I went to bed, she expected lights out, right arm extended for her and nighty night. One time when Lisa was here, we were watching TV. According to Buddy, we were staying up past our bedtime. She sat at the bedroom door and meowed her displeasure. Lisa said, wow, she's worse than a husband. 

During these past few months as Buddy aged at a pace I didn't want to be ready for, I didn't blog too much about her. Over the years, like most pets, they give us a scare with health issues or the things we took for granted with them, that they would always do _________. Buddy had certainly narrowed her world. Just until a week and a half ago, you could find her in the front bedroom, either in her bed, on the daybed or in a patch of sunlight on the floor. She stopped sleeping in the window of the bonus room where she could keep watch on her mortal enemies, take in the sun, sit next to me and of course the all important fourth nap of the afternoon. She had taken to the gray chair downstairs, the gray ottoman, and a decorative pillow on the couch.  When Beth was here in May, she mentioned that Buddy's behaviors were like her little doggy before he died. Yep, all the signs were occurring, lots and lots of sleep, an occasional little poop here and there, not in the litter box, and her posture. I said all summer to Roy, Buddy is circling the wagons. She is gradually finishing up her stay with us. I really think my family's visit and when Roy was here, that gave her extra strength. She never sat on Roy's lap nor sat next to him until this last trip. She did so many times over those ten days with him. In hindsight, we should have taken it as a sign unto us. She was thanking and loving him, more than just for treats. Buddy had been sitting hunched up for weeks and finally the thought occurred that she sat in that hunched position, all her limbs underneath her, most of the time. Then I remembered how the ones in the Feral Fam would sit like that in the backyard and the others would circle around the sick one. Everyone of those feral cats died within a few weeks. Right now in the Feral Fam, Dean sits that way a lot but at a distance in the garage. The gravel road is not as alluring to this group so I don't know if he does this elsewhere.  

One more thing and I will close this post out. I took Buddy's bed from the back porch and put it in a box for the Feral Fam. This morning I could hear all this racket and it was Tippy, Tappy and Cutie wrestling one another in the box with the little bed. They used the flaps strategically against one another. Made my heart glad and somewhere Buddy is happy to see that little bed put to good use. If she was still here even though she had abandoned her bed for the daybed on the porch, she wouldn't want her mortal enemy to have access to it. 

Buddy Lee Beardsley Monarch, A Very Fine Kitty Cat

 

Our sweet little Buddy met Jesus this morning after her health issues needed to be addressed. Even from this summer's bloodwork and tests, she had gone down hill significantly. Even the morphine like drug wasn't helping her anymore. There have been vet visits in the past that I felt would be "the one" but, she pulled through. When I took her for shots and a mani pedi yesterday, in the back of my mind I thought...maybe, because she had some good days, especially with Roy and remembering my mom how she had some daisy days before she passed away, I just wondered if that is what we had experienced with Buddy. Last week her cries were painful ones and when I would go to her, she would whimper. After consulting with Dr Sarah, we chose 8:00 am this morning. She gave her a pain med injection to help her rest. Ha! The joke was on us, cause Buddy never shut her eyes in sleep last night. She stayed awake the whole night, thus I was awake all night but it was a privilege to sit with her, pet and comfort her. She sat on my lap or under my neck, just like she used to do as a kitten. She left twice for a potty break, I took advantage and grabbed a few minutes of shut eye. When we first arrived home, she just sat by her water dish. She would drink a little but it was as if she had forgotten how to drink water. She did the same at her treats and her food dish. Dr Sarah believes Buddy had a tumor or growth in the upper part of her gastrointestinal track. She had lost so much muscle mass, her red blood cells were down even more than in the summer, her blood pressure up, her back legs were giving out and her gait leaned a lot to the right. She ran everywhere, kind of like Edith Bunker from All in the Family. Must have thought the quicker I arrive, the less pain there will be. 

I cannot say enough good about Appalachian Animal Hospital. Megan, who took the calico now named Dorothy, was the tech who assisted. What a gift from the Lord. Dr Sarah explained everything, how it would happen. And she gave us time together before she gave the morphine shot to Buddy. Buddy went into her carrier but then tried to make her way to me but her legs were giving out. I picked her up and she laid her head on my arm like she has done so many times before all this pain. She had started sleeping with her head up as if her spine hurt. Shaved a little fur and administered the shot. I couldn't look, heck I don't look when I get a shot. She was gone in seconds. The vet said, Buddy was ready to go and I have that assurance that we made the right decision for her. 

When I came home, The Feral Fam were all sitting in a row by the fence, like they were waiting and knew something. They were fed early this morning and by this time of day only the ones who stick around are here with all the others scattered to the wind. They sat and watched me walk to the gate, then most of them came into the garage. I went into the house and got the good stuff. Now The Feral Fam gets the good stuff when it comes to wet food, but dry, I try to find what is on sale. To celebrate Buddy's long life and even though she considered them her mortal enemies, I fed them some filet mignon Fancy Feast dry food. All that could be heard in the garage was the crunching sound of dry food be wolfed down. Cali, Riley, and HP probably met her once she crossed over. Now they can be friends and get along. 

Writing is how I process my feelings and probably in the coming days I'll be writing about Buddy. Truthfully, she started out with an attitude, big personality and a temper. She could be so cranky and grumpy. I was her human and she loved Roy, but not as much. She kindly let him sleep with us. 😊 She was notorious for getting angry and waiting till I was asleep to take a swipe at me for the payback. 

I was so happy she made it to her 16th birthday this year. We share the same birthday, but she got older faster. Sweet Sixteen. 

Buddy was consistent in that September is usually when she would use one of her nine lives and scare the heck out of me. She came into our family in September 2005. I had just gone back to work after a hysterectomy had kept me out for about six weeks. Lisa Lewis posted a pic in an email to the staff and said she had one male kitten to give away. She brought him to meet me at the office and it was love at first sight, for me. About a week later, Lisa dropped him off at our condo. Dena was there that evening and she got to help welcome kitty kitty too. No name as of yet. After Dena left and Roy was on the computer, I sat there with this little gray ball of fur sitting on my lap, going through names from To Kill a Mockingbird and such. I said out loud, well no matter the name, you'll be my Buddy. The name fit even after his/her identity was discovered. 

Buddy rescued me at one of the lowest times in my life and she helped me through that deep depression. After my heart diagnosis and waiting for Hurricane Ike to arrive and leave, she never left my side except for short potty or food breaks. She'd come back and crawl the best she could underneath my chin and eventually she had to settle for sleeping on my right arm. 

Just one more story for today...maybe, after her first vet visit, they gave me some shampoo. To give her a bath to knock off any residue of fleas. That little one shook so hard and crawled out of the towel to get, you guessed it, under my neck. She has had baths through the years, but professional ones, not any from me. I wrote about Tuesday, giving her a bath and just like before, she crawled up as best she could underneath my neck and shook just a bit. It dawned on me, we had come full circle. Getting her cleaned up for the vet visit because in the back of my mind, I knew. 

Fam Update; Buddy, The Feral Fam and Us

 I am keeping an eye on the Texas coastline. Nicholas is moving quickly and is forecasted to be mainly a rainfall event but on the coast and in Houston, that is a severe threat and possibly triggering PTSD for some. We are so thankful that we sold the house in May, not because we ever had a problem with flooding but just the maintenance to keep up from rain and wind takes a lot of energy. Of course when checking in last night my question was, do you have enough food and drinks? No one prepares and anticipates like I usually do. Did I mention I'll be eating a lot of soup this fall and winter before the expiration dates in 2022? 

Last night after a day with Buddy constantly at my side and in my brief absence from her, meowing up a storm, but not the storm in Texas, the decision was easy to make, shutting the bedroom door from the get go. It helps so much with getting enough sleep and that has been an issue with the erratic behaviors of Buddy, who is now sound asleep on the couch. 

The Feral Fam are a bit rambunctious this morning. Before breakfast many of them were playing on the driveway and in the side flowerbed. A piece of mulch can be highly entertaining, or so it seems. Junioretta seems a bit lethargic but she has tended that way since she was a kitten. No Mama Cat or Punky this morning which makes for a stress free breakfast. 

It seemed so strange not to get up for church yesterday morning. I was able to participate in my class from First Baptist in Houston. Dena was subbing and she taught a great lesson, as per usual. Even though it felt weird, it does seem to be good restricting indoor exposure. Last night I saw that several more Houston friends have tested positive for Covid and thankfully, most of them were vaxed. 

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Since Corner Kitchen stopped serving breakfast due to the Covid I have adjusted my haircutting schedule accordingly. Don't faint, but doesn't do early mornings outlook has changed. Had an early haircut appointment, 8:45. Like it that way with few people in the salon although we have to be masked up for our appointments. Afterwards I headed over to the T-Mobile store. I've needed to the the sim card changed over from Sprint. Good thing I brought it with me because they are short and didn't have any in the store. This is the kind of thing I don't really know much about and was so happy they did the simple to them install. I debated on going over to the Biltmore but decided to run a few errands instead. Once I got home, I fixed lunch and have tried to nap all afternoon. Buddy is not cooperating to let me sleep but as soon as I moved, she took my napping spot. 

One of my errands was Target. I meant to do curbside pickup but I forgot to get the order in. Bravely, into the store for the needed items and because it is Target, several items that were not on the original list. Thankfully, I didn't saunter. With it being nearly noon once I arrived, it was insightful to see the shelves and where the lack was and what was over supplied. Target staff were busy stocking the Halloween candy aisles. Feels like all that stuff has come out for purchase a little later than usual. I looked for Tootsie Pops, caramel flavor, but they didn't have any. 

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I took my life into my hands yesterday, I gave Buddy a bath. We haven't done this since she was a little bitty scared kitten. I did make it out of the experience unscratched, which in my book is a miracle. Although, the shirt I was wearing didn't fare as well. I think it has helped her in the long run, but I had some doubts last night. She has a couple of hot spots and yesterday afternoon the decision was made to take action. After some fitful moments, she was the most relaxed and quiet last evening than she has been in a long time. In fact, she spent most of the evening sitting next to me. Her preferred choice of late has been downstairs. She only yowled once. That is a good nights sleep around here. Buddy gets a rabies shot today, as well as a mani pedi and a flea treatment for good measure. I feel so bad for Buddy cause her arthritis is causing her pain. She can't have the steroid shot anymore. She was not comforted by my story of having to give up Advil during my heart recovery. My heart was getting better but the knees....I'm going biblical on you, it was difficult to strengthen my weak hands and knees but you need your heart pumping to live and bad knee pain is just an inconvenience in comparison. 

Junior has been back in the mornings and his swag is back. No more letting Toupee and Tappy eat before him, he is hissing and swatting them away from the food. They say orange cats seem to be the friendliest cats, but he is the polar opposite of his father Strawyer. Even when Junior tries to do the squint eye thing, it looks mean, not trusting. It will soon be a year since Strawyer has been gone. He has a piece of my heart. Toupee is getting closer to me yet unsure. Biggio, he greets me at the backdoor when he is around and he is this morning. It is so heartwarming to see Biggio teach Toupee that befriending me is not a bad thing, nor anything to be afraid of. He is doing this just like HP did to get him to trust me. Her legacy lives on. 

The only damage Roy sustained from Hurricane Nicolas is a surge and short on his microwave. He needs a microwave to keep his rigorous diet requirements going. So, he is letting his landlord know about the microwave since it is installed above the stove, but he went out last night and bought a small microwave to keep things going. He said in the back of his mind he got the small one so he can have that in his mancave, bonus room, here. He might never have to go downstairs if he gets too comfortable in this room.  

Look Mom, I'm Living The Dream

 The low clouds and rounds of fog clothe the valley this morning. Not the dense kind where nothing is visible but the kind of fog that accentuates the already present beauty of pastures, hills, and mountains. The night with Buddy was long, with sporadic sleep in between her meowing of a cat who has lost its last friend. She hasn't. I gave her two doses of pain meds yesterday and the first dose seemed to help her during the afternoon. The dose last night couldn't overcome her adrenaline. 

Just read that today is Grandparent's Day. So happy day to all who go by the various names of grandparents. The recognition brings to mind the story that I will continue and conclude told by the best dang liar in all the world. 

Back in the day before phones and computers held our pictures, most people had a box of photographs taken with a camera, then the film developed and hopefully the roll of film captured the moments. While we still lived in Illinois, so I had to be 3-4 years old I remember sitting with my parents on the living room couch going through pictures, mostly of family days. There was one picture of a tall man as he attempted to reach a window with one foot on the porch and the other one on the brick ledge of a large window on the front of a house. I recognized the house, it was my aunts but I always asked, who is the man? The response from my father, that is your Aunt Amy's first husband. He died the year that you were born. Somehow in my little mind I took that to meant something about me being born made him die. No one ever said his name, no one called him Uncle William or Uncle Bill. He was just a man trying to get into the house after he and my aunt accidentally locked themselves out. As the years went by, I didn't ever think of him. There wasn't a reason to because he seemed to be a nonfactor in family history or memories. 

That is until one day, my brother called with a story that seemed unbelievable. A story with suspicion that maybe that first husband and his death were highly suspicious. Then for the first time in my life I learned his name. Whenever my brother was in Houston attending to my father's needs and living situation, he would question my father if the suspicions were true. My father began giving details, the kind of details that someone who knew what happened would have. The last two years of my father's life seemed to be the best years my brother ever experienced with him and based on that fact, we never questioned whether he was telling the truth or not. At the time we were also under the assumption that the Possum Hunter story was true and would be a stage to set the events that led to this man's death in the year that I was born. 

When I heard this story, my genealogist friend Kelly began helping me by doing some research in her limited free time. She found this man's tombstone in the cemetery complete with a picture.  Just said his name, then husband and the years of his birth and death. That seemed to fit the story of suspicion, because clearly this was a headstone meant for two people and my aunt wasn't going to spend eternity next to him. 

But I had questions. How come if something happened in the home, why wasn't there a police report? My father cast aspersions on a uncle alluding to maybe some shady relationships and that seemed believable because of where this all happened is located...cough cough, near Chicago. We couldn't find an obituary in the paper and why didn't his family question his end? It was explained by our father, the man was estranged from his birth family and the family that had adopted him. The story behind all of this was, the man was an electrician and he was screwing but it had nothing to do with lightbulbs. He was confronted by the uncle, aunt's brother and uncle was told he wasn't going to stop the shenanigans. Uncle took matters into his hands, talked with his brothers that he had been in the Possum Hunters with and they met in my parents basement across state lines to plan and then execute the judgement. End result happened, aunt had basement repainted by family members over the course of two Saturdays and a party was held on the third Saturday. 

Our beloved aunt. The aunt everyone loved and was so fun. She told great stories and she was the only woman I knew that could smoke a ciggie, blow the smoke up one nostril and it came out the other. She stopped smoking in later years, but wowsers, what a talent or so I thought. When my brother and I were with her, she clearly favored him just a bit over me. I only tell this because this fact makes sense when you know how my father operates. We loved her brother, the jovial uncle. He was into ham radios and he would explain and show us he could talk with people around the world. His handle was soap maker because he worked for a corporation known for their soap and household products. He also was ahead of his time being a picker. He found really fun and unusual items from the dump. My grandfather was a kind man, who couldn't keep a secret. He would tell you what your Christmas or birthday gift would be without a lot of prodding. I could not for the life of me see how he could have not talked about being a PH, if that had been a true story, nor how he helped his sister by taking care of a problem. The thought that we would have family gatherings in my aunt's basement, with this new knowledge provided by my father was beyond me. 

All this news changed when I began researching on Ancestry and Newspapers.com. I found the first husband's obituary, the one in the paper. He had not died at home but in a hospital. Thus, the likelihood of a police report was explained but what I found next startled me. His father, mother and sister were listed by name in the obituary. All since long dead. He wasn't an electrician but a welder, a pipe fitter at the Sinclair Refinery. Once I started putting the dates together of Possum Hunters and the brothers, it begins to look like, once again, out of the blue, we were hoodwinked by my father. He told half truths, like he is prone to do with just a shred of truth somewhere. 

My father was  narcassistic. He also had attachment disorder but he lived to embarrass and besmirch others. It brought him joy to be the one to cause the pain. He had stopped talking to my Aunt Amy, quit calling her cause he said she put him on hold, but we had also heard she suggested that they both quit talking about their aches and pains, doctor visits...he stopped the relationship right there. She had been a favorite all his life. She hurt him so it was easy for him, being an adroit liar and story teller, to throw together enough things to make them look like something real. He once told me, something I had observed and mentioned earlier in the post, that Aunty loved and favored Doug. I reminded her of my grandmother, his mother, and she tolerated grandma because of her brother. My father hated his mother because she did not want a second child and he was mistreated by her and used by her, all his life. He hated me since I was five years old, so he got some mileage from telling me this. By telling my brother this story of a first husband, he attempted to smear her reputation and at the same time, maybe malign any good memory Doug had of her. 

In hindsight, it is so easy to see now his pattern, how he used his hate. He tore down good people, wonderful people my parents went to church with. He lied about neighbors. He fabricated so he could tear down my mother's side of the family. He was relentless when it came to tearing up my brother and me, to remove any confidence we could have and gaslight us to believe his beliefs of where we would end up in life. My brother tells a story and it had totally been lost to time, until he talked about it. Doug would watch from a safe distance like we all did, as my father lit into me about my life. I said something like, I am going to get married, have a happy life and feel secure about money. My father replied back to that statement, right up in my face, "dreams don't come true little girl, dreams don't come true. Go on and dream."

Hey Mom, look at me, I'm living the dream.

By God's Grace, We Remember

Twenty years ago today began like most normal week days. I was dressed for tennis, wearing pink because one of the women we were playing against said no one won wearing pink. The goal to prove her wrong. The TV was on, like usual, as I ate breakfast. The Today Show, when the announcement came, a plane had flown into the World Trade Center. I thought of a story from years before about a small plane flying into the Empire State Building and thought it must be something like this. I was totally wrong and sat in unbelief as the horrible events of the morning began to unfold. Wave of unbelief, after wave. Many know our story, we should have been there in NYC that day. Roy would have been at a conference at Windows on the World at the top of one of the towers. When Roy told me about the trip and that I should come with him, I felt no peace about going. Four distinct events in life had a similar knowing, not having a peace about going on several trips, that I didn't go on and in all the trips something happened that would have altered the outcome. We were not there by the grace of God. Thirteen years ago, the days leading up to September 11, 2008 had been anything but normal. Over the Labor Day weekend that year the fatigue I had been feeling for weeks hit a high. I could barely do anything, the strain of moving and the extreme fatigue developing had me down. Walking was a burden, short of breath and a weariness I had never experienced. The doctor I had gone to called that morning of September 11th, she made the call and told me to come pick up an echocardiogram order to make an emergency visit to a cardiologist. I told her I didn't think I could go, at least I knew I could not go alone. In that brief conversation, in my spirit I heard the words, if you don't go today will be your last day. I knew it was a prompting from the Holy Spirit. It was a miracle, getting ahold of Roy, who was in a meeting and he came home to take me to the cardiologist. I could barely breath, gasping for air. He had to go get a wheelchair to get me into the office. The echo showed, only 10% of my heart was working and the tech said, September 11, 2008 is a day you won't soon forget. I thought to myself, you don't even know. This is the second September 11th that the grace of God is so pronounced and personal. This morning, September 11, 2021, according to the cardiologist, I shouldn't even be alive. He gave me five years if I was lucky, ten years would be a miracle. Here thirteen years later, I am sitting at the computer, drinking vanilla caramel coffee and listening to Buddy meow. This morning Roy is at Lab Corp, getting blood drawn for a doctor appointment this week with the doctor that saved my life thirteen years ago and who saved his life last year. The grace of God. 

It was also thirteen years ago this week we learned of my mother's Alzheimer's diagnosis. Unfortunately, she declined quickly. There were outside circumstances that probably added to her decline, most probably, my father being so embarrassed she had this disease. He made the decision, even when she still was cognizant to withdraw her from any contact with friends. He did not want them to know. He also began to think any attention that had been directed to him because of his cancer, in remission, would diminish if mom got any sympathy or consideration. This happened at the same time I am fighting for my life in the aftermath of hurricane Ike and the virus that attacked my heart. He wanted to call my cardiologist, because he did not believe anything was wrong with me. He wanted me to go to his cardiologist and be involved with the nurse who was attentive to his care. Not cause he wanted to help but because he wanted info. He said the same thing about wanting to go to my therapist cause she was helping me so much. No, he thought he could get her to say what our sessions contained.  It was a difficult time, trying to gain strength and being under a constant verbal attack from my father. I understand though, he was dealing with this tough diagnosis but I also know this was his behavior when he wanted to abandon a "project" and insert me into the equation. God's grace covered us at that time, Roy, my mother and me as we walked this journey with her.  

Seems we are in the season of first fake fall. After several days of cooler mornings and days, the temps will inch up into the high eighties by Monday and Tuesday. This respite is so welcomed. With such a beautiful day at hand I got out on the road, in Mustang Sam with the top down. Lovely and favorite drive along the river road. I hadn't planned on making any stops except for the curbside pickup at TSC a little later but I did stop in at Penland's. Masked and social distancing in practice. Always love a visit with Georgette and while I was looking, a long time Madison County resident came in the store to say hi to Georgette. I love hearing the stories of life here and I love even more to be able to participate in life here that will be part of future stories, both told and untold. 

The Feral Fam wasn't too happy with me this morning after shutting the garage door all the way down last night. It is a rare occurrence that anyone other than residents or friends of residents come up our road. The dusk had just turned into the beginnings of night when I saw two people, two men it seemed, walking down our road to the the main road. They had a dog too. Several in a neighborhood watch group nearby had mentioned the same situation of people walking on their dead end roads maybe with something other than a leisurely walk in mind. I went downstairs to the garage and it didn't look like any of the Feral Fam were sheltering there, so I shut the garage door the remaining few inches. I found out this morning Tippy was in there, but he didn't seem that upset about uninterrupted sleep, indoor facilities and food. We have security and cameras, but not knowing the nature of a night time walk, in a rural area along a busy road brought about the closure. 

Today holds all the fun of picking up dried out weeds, easier for me to handle, and getting out some fallish, even if it is first fake fall, decorations for outdoors. I am trying to be good, doesn't come easy, but staying away from others in these Covid times and keeping my immune system as best as I can in health is harder to do than last year. Already written about that. The project that I thought would keep me occupied blew up this week but I'll still write about it only now from a different perspective. It is still hard for me to want to get out there and work in the garden due to my sadness concerning HP but maybe the autumnal day will overtake those thoughts and feelings. 

This morning I am not watching or listening to any remembrances from 9/11. I am thrilled that this morning Roy is eating breakfast and going into the office. I am thrilled, kind of, to deal with weeds. We are alive by God's grace and sometimes when I watch any of those remembrances, it is too easy to go into what ifs. I cannot watch anything where people are jumping out of the buildings. But in all of that, I will never forget. 

Best Damn Liar In All The World

 He is having a good laugh from beyond the grave right about now. 

Yesterday afternoon I began to put dates and times together and realized, I had been had. It started so innocently at dinner with my parents years ago. I commented on Grandpa leaving the coal mines of Kentucky for work and a better life. He and my grandmother settled in Decatur, Illinois. He drove a city bus for a living, beginning with the trolleys and my grandmother managed the bank lunchroom at Citizens National Bank. Never overlooking a chance to lie and to stain a reputation, my father seized the opportunity to tell a story, with truth involved but the lie came to his father and his father's brothers. Truthfully, my father is one of the best liars that ever lived. He took in everyone, he lied to and about everyone. No one got a pass, he tore us all up. His lies and the believability of them hoodwinked family, friends and eventually strangers. 

That night at dinner he told the story of the Possum Hunters. Historically, this was a group of men who saw the success of the Night Riders breaking up the monopoly on prices of the American Tobacco Company in Kentucky. They patterned themselves after them to break the hold that the coal companies had on miners. The PH also took men to task that didn't treat their families right then began a reign of terror over several counties because they expanded their vision and began to terrorize those they had grudges against, or were too wealthy, or living in sin and then they turned to taking racial matters in their hands. Men, women and children were whipped, tied up and beaten. The death of one man got attention because he was electrocuted on a coal car. Accidentally though, cause these men didn't know that after the first little shock the volts were accumulating and the next little shock, it killed the man. The end of the gang came when the leader of the pack...was kidnapped and tortured so he would give up the names of men in the group. Or the other thought is, his own gang of men killed him. He died during the torture and these kidnappers took him, hung him from a tree. Most in the community knew he hadn't hung himself or that the hanging killed him. Newspaper accounts and a true crime book, Murders in Muhlenberg County gave these details that backed up the truth part of the story my father told, but here is his twist. He shared his father and uncles were a part of the Possum Hunters. He made it sound like these four brothers were the ones that killed the man on the generator for the coal cars. I left that dinner in utter disbelief, my sweet, kind grandfather? My jovial Uncle Lloyd? Quiet Uncle Aubrey? Even cranky Uncle Lawrence to do such a thing was a stretch. I began asking my brother and cousins, have you ever heard this story? Did anyone ever talk about this? That the four brothers had to leave Kentucky as not to be prosecuted for this man's death? They left with the blessing of the local sheriff that said, I will not pursue charges if y'all leave the state and don't come back to the county while I am sheriff. Two went to Indiana and two went to Illinois. I contacted the author of the book Murders in Muhlenberg County. He talked with me about these happenings and stories. He explained, it was not a small group, but a rather large group and he had never heard anything about the four brothers being an integral part of the coal car story. So, in some ways that assuaged some fears. The story became less intriguing and everyday life filled up any time that I gave to it, every once in a while. But the story set the stage so to speak for future stories. 

Because this has been a season of distractions without much focus, writing has always been a way to make my way back and be less distracted.  Writing fiction is not my strongpoint but I thought, it will stretch me to take a "true" story and fictionalize it in several pieces of short story form, i.e. Ellen Gilchrist style. This project was not to get a book published or gain the interest of any professional but I was going to do this as a birthday gift next year for my brother. I had lunch with a friend who writes best seller fiction and her second book, under her real name comes out soon. Her contract is for two books, so she is working on the third and the subject matter has my interest. I consulted with my friend about research, policies of 1950 police investigations, where to find articles to help keep the story in the times it happened. She was a great help. One source she suggested was Ancestry and Newspapers sites. Got the trial memberships and I've been hooked and a paying subscriber since joining. The newspaper site adds so many details. Bonnie was intrigued with the story I told her, beginning with this Possum Hunter story as told to me by my father then culminating into the sensational and unbelievable story that I wanted to be the true focus of the project. On Ancestry I began looking into events, paperwork and anything else I could find. I also started with the family, my grandfather's siblings and parents. It was exciting to find Mama and Papa Doss' marriage certificate. For the first time I had cause to pay attention to birth years. It wasn't adding up. My grandfather was the second oldest of the siblings but the oldest brother. He was born in 1905. Hmmm...the Possum Hunters were at their prime from around 1912-1915. My grandfather would have been a boy when all this happened. Lawrence and Aubrey would be toddlers and Lloyd, the supposed ring leader of the brothers, was a newborn. Dang! Now when I was told this story by my father research on the Internet wasn't too much of a thing being in the glorious days of  AOL and dial-ups. My father's story of his father leaving Kentucky over being a part of a gang that murdered and stirred up mayhem, couldn't come to the light until much later. That later was yesterday.

I texted my brother with this new information and then wondered is the last story he told Doug in the final years of his life, true? A story that ruins the memory of a favorite aunt and her siblings, including my grandfather. On the perimeter, tainting other family members, including our mother, of being complicit of knowing facts in the story.  Doug texted back, we will never know and my response was, our father was the best damn liar in all the world. 

To be continued.....

Research...Ancestry.Com and Time

 Wide awake at 1:53 am. Buddy had a meowing fit, got over it and I am sure she is sound asleep downstairs. Sometimes I can go right back to sleep but not this time. Mentally, I put together what I have been finding on Ancestry.com. Family members whose names I barely remember and where they fit in the family puzzle so to speak. It is beginning to make sense but it is still a lot to process. When it concerns my fathers side of the family, I just put all the records and newspaper clippings on his name and will sort it out later. Same practice for my moms side of the family on her name. My brother once made the statement and I had not thought about it, but our fathers side of the family was pretty tight. Really, not too many friends outside of the extended family. Oh, there were some but I don't recall too many. What is odd on ancestry.com, that in the list of brothers and sisters many times my grandfather is not included. In an obit of one of the siblings, another brother is left out in the grouping. Don't know if this is error or if there was some underlying issue and that what's fun to dig around, looking for. In the early morning I looked at my grandfather's sister, Mae. I never knew her first name was Lillian. From childhood, I believe I only met her once. Our family spent the night at her farmhouse in Kentucky. I remember two things in particular, it was my first experience with a chamber pot under our beds, although there was indoor plumbing downstairs and I loved watching the tractor out in the field. That recollection of spending a night on a farm is one of a few fond memories in a childhood that contained more bad experiences than good. I believe on that same trip we stopped at one of my father's friends from his days in the funeral home business. My father had planned on studying to be a mortician, but my mom wasn't too fond of the idea. In retrospect, he did better with the dead than the living but on that trip, at that stop at his friends is when he turned off the light and left me with a dead body. I got in trouble for screaming, cause you know, it was all a joke. In hindsight, he was just reinforcing silence when he troubled with me. When Doug was here a couple of weeks ago, he had never heard that story and during the years I have heard his story with our father, many of them I didn't know. We both agree, when his attention wasn't on us, we were unable to help any other member of the family because the respite was needed for the next skirmish. I remember once, my father's cousin and family came to Houston and stayed with us on vacation. It seems that our cousins were there too from Illinois. There were four girls that I believe we only saw that once or maybe once in Illinois, but of the four, one of them passed away in 2018. In the early morning, reading about a third cousin I hardly remember, I felt sad, because of her death and because from what I understand, stupid statements my father made long ago, helped put the distance between us and that branch of the family. 

One of the Target deliveries came this morning. I do use them for essentials and helps keep me in out of stores and with people. Two more things are coming today, one of them being an electric blanket. The one we have is too slick and even though we have it between two heavy blankets in the winter, it still is slip sliding away. Since it is so difficult to get under the bed and unplug everything, I just left it on and folded it back toward the end of the bed, still slips away. We picked the new one out cause it is heavier and hopefully stable. 

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Buddy slept downstairs all night and hardly made a sound. Roy suggested making the downstairs a little cooler for her and maybe that's just what she needed. Getting a full night of sleep every other night, while rough, it is better than almost four bad nights with one good. This morning Biggio met me at the backdoor and Radley was there as well. Radley and Biggio come and go, with Biggio being around more often. Radley let me pet him again and this morning little Toupee reached out with her paw and put it on my hand. All in all amidst the Feral Fam fusses, it was heartwarming.  

I spent way too much time on Ancestry.com yesterday but I continue to learn some of the most interesting facts. There is so much more I hoped to find, but it is satisfying to pick up bits and pieces and like writing about before, putting these facts together. I re-read a post I did in 2015 with facts I had found. Re-reading the blog post yesterday got me to thinking that something didn't add up. The trial dates of members of the hunters were in 1915 when my grandfather would have been ten years old and his brothers, well the ranged from newborn to three years old in 1915. Don't think even back in the day they would be out past dark, riding horses and doing mischief, to put it mildly. So, the story my father told me was basically true about the history of that time, but he lied when it came to including his father and uncles. If you knew my father, this isn't a big surprise to tell a "story" that had some truth, but contained more untruths. My father was a very unhappy man and would besmirch a person in a heartbeat. He didn't like his mother but seemed to somewhat like his father. Truth be known from me, I was upset and unsettled by the story he told. My grandfather was kind in many ways and he loved his grandchildren. I could not see him being a part of a group that could be so mean to so many. The device my father used to draw me in, an unbelievable story, so he could laugh later at my stupidity of believing such a story. Haha Dad, the joke is on you. You legally severed our relationship and died before I discovered the truth. A side note... he died on April 1.  I'm going to write about this in more blog posts to process my feelings and thoughts. But dang, this man was the best dang liar. 

Staying Strong, Staying Safe

 Morning came and I was up to watch the fog roll into our little valley. Buddy slept downstairs all night thus a full night's sleep happened. The fog didn't stay around too long as the sun broke through. Once the backyard had some light Baby and Boodos waited on the back steps hoping for treats. Once they heard the door open and the gritty sound of a sliding screen, those little cats came out of every nook and cranny. It is a wonderous sight to behold as black and white cats swarm the steps with a drop of ginger and ginger and white in the midst. 

Sunday morning upon entering the Sunday School classroom, a box of cat food greeted me. My friend Jan had left it because her cat rejected the brand. The Feral Fam is usually not too picky and I use this particular brand as an in-between meal snack for those days when, those who shall remain nameless...cough Mama Cat...cough and Punky...stick around and eat everything and chase off any interested family members to what is in their particular bowl. I sat beside Tracy and turned to her while holding the box and said...snack? We both cracked up. Thank you Jan, I have already used some of the food for snack time, feral snack time, yesterday. 

August seemed to be hotter than I can remember in recent memory. Gardening took a big back seat, maybe even a rumble seat to the heat. The cool didn't come soon enough in the evenings to do any kind of work. I was totally surprised to see a morning glory vine had taken over a hanging basket and the vines from that basket were interwoven tightly in the hydrangea bush. On Saturday we pulled a bunch of that vine off the holly bush and part of the hydrangea but we stopped once we were at our limit energy-wise. I went out yesterday and just about completed the task. Those vines, while beautiful, are so invasive, take over quickly and kill the plant that is hosting its life on the vine. The vines wrap themselves tightly around branches and limbs. Maybe morning glory vines compete with kudzu for domination of the garden. Of course I see so many spiritual and non-spiritual connections, but this morning you'll be spared to read those thoughts. 

But, this summer has felt like a morning glory vine takeover in me. It has been awhile since I have felt so out of it and distracted. Nothing much could hold my attention, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. I don't think it has to do with the delta variant resurgence, but maybe so. Those couple of months with no mask, no social distancing and the like, only to go back to protocols, difficult. When we were studying Hagar this summer, I remember making a remark about Hagar returning to Sarah. She knew what she was returning to and that journey back had to be difficult and I likened it to Covid if we had to return to our experiences of the last year. This summer held a feeling of loss for me, some of it known and some of it unknown. For whatever reason, the past few months have been problematic. Roy made the comment that I seemed to be a little off...that he couldn't discern in phone conversations.  Guess its time to start ripping away at the vine. 

I spent some time on Ancestry during the afternoon. Mainly looking at my moms side of the family. Names that were familiar to me but as a kid didn't know the connections to family. Found my grandfather's military registration card for WWI. He stated his occupation was being a carpenter. On census records he lists several occupations over the years, brick mason, machine operator, and farmer. He died when he was 65, from a heart condition. I have a couple of pictures of him, we were on the front porch and I was bringing leaves to him. My minds eye though, when I picture him, well I picture Dwight Eisenhower cause they looked an awful lot a like. 

Roy just let me know that a VP at his company passed away over the weekend after fighting Covid for several months. Roy sounded a bit unnerved by the news but I think it was somewhat of a shock to many. He said they think the new variant MU has been in Houston since May but not many talk about it after being overwhelmed by the delta variant. I've read the new variant is vaccine resistant but who knows. I don't want to live in fear yet at the same time I want to be smart about crowds and stores. I talked with our pastor this morning and our class is going to take a four week furlough to see where we are in this thing. Many have already made the safe decision to stay home and two more told me that they were going to do the same thing. I get concerned with a compromised immune system, so we made the fluid decision. So happy that our pastor is truly a shepherd and cares for us. 

So today, I tried to get all the shopping done for the next week but still have one more stop to make. Probably tomorrow or maybe Thursday. Got projects to keep me busy and some good books to read. I am also going to keep up with the Sunday School lessons. 

On and Off...Out and About...Being Careful

 Roy and I curated all over the place yesterday. Got a lot of weeds pulled as well as getting up the scraggily flowers. Got some sunflowers trimmed back and back under control. The birds have certainly enjoyed the seeds and so happy to share the seeds with them. Bugs, not so much. Only had one totally rotten sunflower that had been eaten up on the inside. We trimmed back the four o'clocks that have totally gotten out of control.  One azalea didn't make it and neither did the rhododendrons. Not too bad out of all the new plants that we planted in the spring. Reems Creek has trees in and we are contemplating cherry trees. 

I bit the bullet yesterday and joined ancestry.com. Where did the afternoon go? I also got a free trial for newspapers.com. Interesting all the announcements of engagements, weddings, promotions, and the like that were published in the newspaper of days gone by. I looked up a cousin from my mom's side that I only met once, long ago. I kind of found her, I think I am not going to do anything with that information. A mystery of sorts also gave new facts to the story and the handed down story came with a few flaws that the mystery information cleared up. 

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Labor Day is beginning a little overcast and dreary but I like those kinds of days. Buddy has been treated, she has returned to the couch. The Feral Fam has been treated and fed. When Punky shows up in the morning there is a whole lot of hissing going on but I think they finally all settled in. Toupee shows some interest in getting a little closer to me but its always about the food, but that's ok. She wasn't around last night when I fed them, so she was a bit on the hungry side this morning. 

Roy taught the lesson in our class yesterday morning. He did a good job. Then we had to leave to go to the airport. Just drop offs and immediate pick ups now curbside. No more waiting right there because the number of people flying has picked up. I thought about making a short grocery stop on the way home but decided to head on back. A wave of sleepiness hit and I was down for the count most of the afternoon. 

We made a Walmart run and I totally regret that we did. It has been over a year since being in a store and I'm not too hep on the pickup thing there. Tons of people in the store and only two main checkouts open and the self checkout had a line as long as the regular lanes. I still think it is not just a hiring situation in stores like this, but it is a manner or semblance of control. We only had five or six people ahead of us when we got in line but oh my goodness, the line was very, very long behind us. Our trip was a good one though, getting stocked up on a good price of Roy's oatmeal and some NC t-shirts for him. Roy is much more patient in lines then me but we both took turns wandering nearby the line. But wait, there's more... Although I did not give into anger at Walmart and tried to keep myself well behaved and entertained, there were more lessons to be learned. God has a great sense of humor to remind me, what I think is so bad could be tons worse. After loading up the truck, we went over to Lowe's. The flimsy border fence around the tulip/ year long use flowerbed was a little worse for the wear. So, we went to checkout the border fence offerings. Roy had already made it to the aisle and I continued to saunter, looking at plants and such. To the left, there was a man looking through the reproduction, plastic whiskey barrels. He moved them a bit too hard and boom, several came crashing down. I stopped to see what happened and so happy for that stop because a rat disturbed by the commotion in the barrels, ran out, in front of me about four feet away. I froze mid step and watched in horror the rat running into the aisle in front of it to hide away. Shaken but not stirred, I moved toward the aisle Roy was on, quite upset and wanting to move on. He thought I was saying a wasp had been in front of me, had a mask on, and continued discussing the merits of the particular border fence we were looking at. Once we decided on the border, we moved inside the building to pick up a few more supplies. I did not want to go near the birdseed aisle in case we would run into a few of the rats relatives. We did find more flytraps that I like, so there was that. When we got to the truck and the barrel people loading their car with the newly purchased rat home, I mean barrel, I said to Roy hope they checked for rats before buying. He was puzzled by the comment and I said you know cause of the rat that ran in front of me when the barrels fell. Roy says oh, I thought you were saying a wasp was in front of you and really, you are pretty calm about flying insects. Rat, that's a whole nother thing. Yes, yes, it is. Thankful not to wet my pants or have to make a trip to Mission cause of falling or a heart attack.

On Thursday we worked outside most of the morning and then later in the afternoon once it cooled off again. We pulled weeds like there was no tomorrow and we also pulled out the straggly plants. We worked on getting hoses readjusted and Roy did the water filter thingy. It was Waynesville Wednesday for us as we ate at Blue Rooster, shopped Christopher Farms, Barbers Orchard, Hazelwood Soap, and Mast General. Roy found out he likes muscadine grapes, especially with the low sugar content. We Googled it up to see if they freeze well and good news, they do. We picked up a few peaches and more honey crisp apples. Roy used some of the apples off our trees to add to his oatmeal. They sure don't look pretty but taste good. 

Burnsville was our Saturday jaunt with hopes of making a ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway, but alas we just did the Burnsville and Christy's Crafts trip. Roy found several photos he wants for his remaining time, less than a year, in the office. A deer in morning light and an elk is the subject matter of the second photo. No need for a frame, they are ready to go. Found a quilt for the twin bed bedroom. Now I'll have a hunt for something similar in color to this quilt for the other bed. Christy's shop was chock full of fun things, and so it is always fun to shop there and visit with Christy. We stopped at TJs in Mars Hill before heading home. Fun day with street tacos for lunch. Then we worked more outdoors and called it a day. 

We were so careful while going out. Late or very early meals if eating out. Social Distancing and wearing masks. In fact several things we planned to go do or see got nixed due to this Delta variant of the Covid. Roy has to be extremely careful due to the Covid protocols they are practicing at the office now. 

First There Was Cozy but This Year We Curate

 Our rain gauge is reporting around two inches of rain or so from Ida. That is an amount we can live with because plants were watered without having waterfalls or a river running in the backyard. We did some yardwork in between rain showers yesterday. Roy also worked on a presentation he will be giving in September. Today is September 1st and it is looking like the high temp of the day will be around 78-79. For this we give thanks. 

Quite the contrast yesterday verses Monday as we were on the go. Last night I noticed our home phone flashing we had a message. What? The phone line has not been working and so it was good news to see it back online. We had an appointment scheduled with Spectrum for Friday but that has been cancelled. Roy was also able to get some of our security cameras back online too. We had several that still did their job but two that went on vacation. 

Saw our neighbor last night and we caught up the best we could with howling winds as a background. She said she thinks she has seen HP twice. I am not too sure about that but it gives me hope. One sighting over past Mary Joyce's home and one sighting on the backside of their property in all the land that the neighbors cleared out for fields. She said Baby hangs out around their house and I am sure he does that regularly because King Herod has been lurking about here. Boodos has gone into a new hiding place in the garage, Junior tip toes checking out every nook and cranny before relaxing a bit in the garage. Biggio is careful too but he has picked up on the fact that if he stays near me when KH is around, KH won't bother him. Last night one is was dusk and most of the younger set were in the garage keeping dry, I pulled out the red laser light and they had a blast. I told Roy that it was the first little bit of joy once again with The Feral Fam.  

Looks like we can return to normal when it comes to gasoline. Colonial Pipeline shut ins or line breaks give me a bit of a fright since they supply a great percentage of gasoline along the east coast. They started running product through the pipelines Monday night. The county covid report is out and cases increased in August. We are doing all we can to keep that virus at bay from our household. There are some tough decisions we are making for the short term. 

The book I ordered to help me study for upcoming Sunday School lessons this fall in Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon arrived yesterday. Thumbed through it a bit and love all the background it gives for Paul writing in the style for each of those books in the Bible. Love to read the history that is happening at the time of each of his writings. 

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This has been bugging me of late, so a detour from the ordinary beautiful days of mountain life into a bit of cynicism. 

Just like the word cozy was overused last year, this year it seems to be curate. 

Definition of curated

: carefully chosen and thoughtfully organized or presented

It can have a feeling of a professional touch, along with being chosen and thoughtfully organized or presented. This past week I have noticed this buzz word more than before. In the past the only time I heard the word curate had to do with museums. They have curators who organize in a thoughtful way art and artifacts to be on display. The only problem is, most museums display the work of dead artists and extinct animals or civilizations. Do I really want to curate my wardrobe? I would now like to display my acid washed jeans and Coca-Cola shirts.  Macy's is encouraging me to buy these curated pieces of clothing to complement and complete my wardrobe. Uh, maybe just a work shirt and some jeans or capris seems to be the only items needed for this falls wardrobe, curated doesn't need to happen, especially with Covid on the rise around here. The cats don't care what I wear just as long as they are fed on time. The Toyota dealership is curating choices just for us. Nah, we are happy with our non curated Tundra. A local real estate agent is curating homes for our perusal. Nope, happy where we live, in our non curated home. I don't know that you can wear comfort slob clothes in a curated home. Sometimes curate is used to give or describe a shorter experience and that might be useful in full gospel type churches because you get two sermons, the one before the offering and the main sermon. That has always seemed odd that you have to sermon-up the congregation before giving. Isn't that a lack of faith of the pastor? So the offering sermon could be curated so that church only lasts two hours instead of two and a half or three hours. Since many churches depend on marketing to sell the goods so to speak, it won't be long until these buzz words, market funneling, retargeting and geofence should hit us at church and not just in the business world. Market funneling is knowing where the client is on the journey and curating...hehehe, an experience to help them make that decision sooner than later. Strategize the approach and maybe add or think back to the 80's if you want to do vintage no mid century modern church and sing The Savior is Waiting. As we go in and out of Covid protocols, the buzzy wordy might be, retargeting. That is what you do to get people back into the routine of showing up at church and placing them in the marketing funnel. Geofencing is just what it sounds like, personalized advertising to hit a type based on their location to bring them in. According to Forbes these are top annoying buzz words in the workplace for 2021;

1. Cohort
2. Close the loop
3. Hop on a call
4. Hope your [sic] well
5. B2H (business to human)
6. Mainstream media
7. Agile
8. ‘Trying times’ / ‘now more than ever’ / ‘new normal’ / ‘nice to e-meet you’ / ‘we’re all in this together’
9. We remain cautious
10. TLA (three letter acronym)
11. Ideate 
12. Non-fungible
13. Woke / curate
14. Socials
15. Influencer

They noticed that Zoom or Zooming didn't make the list or work from home. Wait till next year. I like how they closed the article, buzz words save time in an office environment, but they also can also make a bad or mediocre idea seem more impressive. Oh, there is so much I could say about that, but the weeds are calling me and I must go while the soil is damp that makes weed pulling much easier. Then I will have curated flowerbeds to showcase...played out flowers due to August heat.