Rambling thoughts

There's a skeeter in here and he's chewing on me, the light blew so I can't even see the little blood sucker. I'm too tired and too lazy to put a new bulb in right now so I'll keep fighting him in the dark.

MeriKate had outpatient surgery today for a hernia. She's home now but feeling quite a bit of pain so she's not a happy camper. She's also been sick because of the anesthesia. The doc said she can go back to school on Tuesday as long as she doesn't run and bounce around like a little wild indian. I hope Krysten and Abby feel sorry enough for her pain that they won't pick many fights this weekend, with her or each other.

Bubby, Jerri, and the Beans came this afternoon. After Zach, his sisters, and Alexis came home from school, Bubby and Zach went to the field to see James and Jerri and I took the 4 girls to town so I could go to the bank and get groceries.

We were outnumbered. By the time we got home we'd already tried to give them away about 4 times. To strangers. It also didn't help that Wal Mart was crowded and we couldn't find stuff as quickly as I would have liked so we could escape. I ended up only getting something quick to fix for supper, I don't think we'd have survived having to buy a weeks worth of groceries.

Trish called today and she'll be busy this weekend having a rummage sale. Maybe the girls will take pity on her and help out by helping her take care of customers. She told me that Jaylen is loving the new school but Jordan isn't so sure if she likes it or not.

I must stop procrastinating and get my photos ready for the tri-county Fair. They're supposed to be at the fair grounds on Sunday afternoon and I haven't matted the first one yet. Maybe I'd better do that tomorrow.

I hope everyone has a great holiday weekend!

SkyWatch Friday 6

Just after daylight morning glory.

Saturday evening sunset.

To view more glorious sky views visit the other SkyWatch participants.

Thar She Blows, again

My arthritic knees are paining me something furious so I put this notice up on the men's/boy's bathroom door just now. I wonder if they'll even notice it's there.

YeeeeHaaaa!

I would turn cartwheels and kick up my heels, if I thought I'd be able to get up and function normally afterwards, I had an email from the elementary councilor at Zach's school,

"ALL 3 teachers as well as Mr. M agreed to, and immediately began implementing, each and every one of the suggestions. Thank you for caring enough to compile the list and share it."

I have hopes that we will soon see light at the end of the tunnel, I just hope it's the right tunnel!

This, and That, and Some More

Jerri was making pumpkin bread the other morning and Beans walked into the kitchen and said,

"Ok Ma'am, you're safe now. I locked the tiger in the cage."

Jerri's mixing, and thinking, Tiger? Cage?

"Wait a minute Beans, where's the tiger"?

She follows Beans back down the hall and sees the bathroom door is closed, opens it, and the cat runs out. Ned-Thomas was a happy tiger to be able to escape.

She told me today that every time Ned-Thomas sees Beans coming, he runs to the door to be let outside. I reckon it's safer. :-)



I'm a serious coffee drinker and try not to waste a drop of tasty caffeine goodness, so yesterday I'd gotten busy and the cup I had been sipping on had gotten cool. It was about half a cup so I was going to zap it a few seconds in the microwave and finish it up before washing the supper dishes. I've been in one of my fumble-fingered modes this week so that half cup of coffee wiggled it's way right out of my hand and went crashing to the floor.

It was maybe 4 ozs of coffee, so how in the heck did that little bit of coffee make such a mess? I cleaned coffee from the microwave door, the dishwasher door, under the dishwasher, several square feet of floor, the cabinet doors, my feet, the rug, and I'm still finding coffee splashes.



I woke up tired this morning so I think I'm going to go take a nap. Y'all have a great Tuesday!

The Golly Monster

James and Bubby took Zach over to the river fishing early Saturday morning. Just before noon he came into the house with a big grin, he couldn't say a word, just kept grinning. His PopPop and Uncle Bubby didn't catch anything worth keeping, Zach caught 3 catfish, 2 were nice sized fish, the third one was what his PopPop referred to as a Golly Monster. He's still preening over his catch, one happy fisherman.

James said it was hilarious to watch him bring it in to the bank with his rod and reel, he was yelling, "Help me PopPop, Help me!" and was backing up the bank. James told him he'd better reel that fish in, it was his to land. He'd had a big one before he caught this one, but it broke the line before he got it to the bank.

Ok, I'm ready to rant now.

Long time readers of my blog know of the struggle we have every year with Zach and the ADHD that makes it so hard for him when dealing with school work. You also know of the struggles I've had with the school in trying to get additional help for him.

I waited patiently through June and most of July to allow the superintendent, Mr. "Hitler", to complete the retirement process before I sent my request for Zach to be given a Section 504 (under the Americans with disabilities act) evaluation. I didn't want to take this official action because I knew I would be stepping on more than a few Administrative toes by doing so, and I was also almost certain that they would politely refuse the evaluation because Zach's overall grades are not bad, he only struggles the most in two of his subjects, Math and Reading/literacy, the very two subjects that most kids with ADHD have the most problems with. But I was already prepared to file grievances with the relevant government departments in order to push them if I had to.

So, when the elementary school counselor called last Wednesday to tell me the pre-evaluation meeting was set for Friday morning at 7:45, I had prepared a list of accommodations which I felt were needed in order to help him, and I was ready to face them to get the ball rolling.

So I thought.

While James and I were over shopping near Memphis on Thursday, the elementary counselor called Jami to tell her that the High School counselor, (who was formerly the elementary councelor and can't seem to let go of her reign of power over the lower grades, and who apparently is also on the Section 504 committee), said that I could attend the meeting but I could have no input because I was not Zach's guardian.

This was Thursday afternoon, there was no problem in doing the paperwork to make me his guardian, but it would be impossible to complete this the afternoon before the early scheduled a.m. meeting. Also, I was aggravated and frustrated since this had never presented a problem before when I was the one who registered him for school, paid all of his fees, and requested and attended conferences with his teachers concerning his progress each year. In fact I had asked them on more than one occasion if I needed to be his guardian in order to do any of these things and the answer was always, "no, no, we know he lives with you".

When I got home Thursday afternoon, I called the elementary counselor, who has always been a great help, to tell her to cancel the meeting because we were going to have to start over and make a new evaluation request as soon as we'd fixed up the guardianship papers. Then I asked her, "Why is Mrs. C. doing this to us? Why is that school so adamantly against my requests for help for Zach? We're starting his 7th year of attendance in that school and their response each time I ask for help is, We don't have anything. Why? What am I asking for that is going to be so difficult for them to provide?"

This led to her asking me about the accommodations I felt he might need and I told her there was not even one, NOT ONE thing, that would not benefit the whole, entire class if they were implemented. There were a few that the entire class wouldn't require, like having him be seated as near to the teacher's desk as possible and not near a window or door, where he'd be even more easily distracted, but none, Not one, would cost them a single thing except a little time and effort if they'd just work with us.

Some of my suggestions, complaints, requests, letters, pleadings, or something, must have made some impact from last year because his homeroom teacher sent a set of all of his books home and they're doing that for all of the kids this year. This had been the first request on the accommodations list so I was thankful that I could scratch that off.

Anyway, after I told her many of the requests, she agreed that they were all perfectly reasonable and asked me to send them to her. She feels that they should be able to do all of these things, and that we can work around it without even involving Mrs. C. This would also help in that we wouldn't have to go through the process of a 504 evaluation which is a win-win situation in my opinion because I have never felt that simply requesting one would guarantee that they'd do one. I've found over the years that most of them are just that mean and petty about such things.

So now I await word from her to see what she's been able to do about our situation. I don't mind the hard work even though I don't feel I'm qualified to help him as well or as easily as someone who IS qualified, I'm certain that I'm not as patient as someone who is qualified would be. If they'll just keep me informed, keep their web pages updated, their online grades posted weekly, answer my questions, just HELP me to help him, I think we'll do just fine.

Keep your fingers crossed for us, I don't want to have go to jail for going up there and punching Mrs. C.'s lights out. I really think I can outrun the old battleax. :-)

Brenda Photo Challenge: SWEETS

Strawberry flavored marshmallows that have been hanging around all summer. I'm thinking that one of the kids bought these and didn't like them or else there wouldn't have been any around to take a shot of.

I just bought a mixed bag of candies yesterday and hid them away as best I could so that the kids would have a treat when they came home from school. I'll probably have to hide them several times so they'll last a few days.

Now this is my favorite kind of sweet, we shucked a whole bunch of sweet corn last month. I think we put about 200 ears in the freezer.

The sweet and lovely Miz Tegan is our hostess for today's Photo Challenge. Thank you, young lady, for doing this for us!

You'd think this would be an easy one for me what with all these chillins overrunning the house most days, but it was one of the most difficult. In this house, anything remotely sweet lasts about as long as a fart in a whirlwind, no joke! I didn't think you'd want to see photos of the half chewed wad of bubble gum that got tossed into my ashtray, or the nutty buddy ice cream cone that was mostly eaten before it ended up in the trash,,, You didn't, did you?

Still In A Mood

Yesterday started out alright but someone stuck their toe in and gave me a big, fat, headache. I hope that old broad has a double doozey of one today. I'll do a rant and rave post about it later.

The day ended on a better note, the kids came in from school without too much yelling and fussing, Zach got right on his homework without me having to tell him more than 20 times (that's a record!), and the Beans and Chick came over to see if Nanaw was still where she was supposed to be.

SkyWatch, 8-21-08

Storm cloud looking east from my back deck. We don't get many storms from the east but this storm was determined, and it got a little rowdy here until after it had passed over the other day.

A little bit of sky is showing behind this little hummer. He/she seemed to be enjoying the little misting of rain.

Not much sky showing here either but it was all gray and cloudy. My morning glories were enjoying a little respite from the heat.

There are loads more SkyWatch photos for you to enjoy if you'd like to go see.

I'll keep my lips and wrinkles, thank you very much!

Jerri and the Beans came by yesterday for a cup of coffee after they'd dropped off the Chick at school, and while we were sitting there being Bean-er-tained, and talking when she'd let us, Jerri handed me a magazine she'd been thumbing through and said, "Look at this."

I took it, looked, and thought, "What? Her hair style?" Then I noticed what she was holding and I said, "What in the hell is she holding?" Jerri was laughing as I read a little more of the ad and discovered it sure wasn't what I first thought it might be. (although there are probably some crazy folks out there who just might attempt to use it for something similar to what I was thinking, but I ain't going there, nope, not me.) I initially thought it was some sort of feminine device,

and it was,

just not for the part of the feminine anatomy that I first thought.

What we were looking at was an ad for Jolie Lips: Lip Plumping System.

Is this supposed to replace that stuff made from animal hooves that women are letting plastic surgeons inject into their lips to give them that "pouty" look? It's certainly cheaper, I don't imagine you can even get a peek at a surgeon for the $24.95 price of it.

Anyway, Jerri and I started joking about other ways, redneck ways, to get "the pout", like slapping a bee when it lands on your strawberry lip gloss, or not watching where you're going and running face/lips first into a door, or heck, Jerri said she'd slap someone's lips for less than $24.95, might be a way to make a little extra spending money.

I think I'll keep my old wrinkled lips, and my old wrinkled face too, cause that Secret Lift thing looks like an accident waiting to happen also.

I Did It

I'm starting another blog, it's an informational, learning, I'll tell you what I've learned and you tell me what you've learned, type of blog, about photography. I'm going to try to post information that I come across on different sites, and other stuff that I've learned, all on my own, by numerous trials and more than a few errors.

I'd also love it if other folks would send me their photography tips to post there. If you know it and you tell me, then I can put it there, and hopefully from there, the word will spread and more and more folks will know it.

Then we'll all be learning something new and I like learning new stuff!

So, how about it, what do you think of the idea?

Ready to learn with me?

Back to School Munchkins

Zach and his sisters, MeriKate, Abby, Krysten. Don't they look so excited about going back to school? (Not nearly as excited as their Nanaw is!)

Jerri sent me this photo of the Chick dressed for school and wearing her, just for looking cool, shades.

Jilly Beans all dressed up for her first dance class today. Jerri said she packed her "lunch" for class, just like Sister.

It was so QUIET here until 3:40. I was so used to cartoons being the only thing allowed on TV during the day that I forgot to turn the TV channel until it suddenly hit me that I didn't HAVE to watch Noggin, or Cartoon Network, or Disney, I can watch what I want!

Hey Wait, Slow Down!

The Chick starts kindergarten tomorrow, wasn't it just yesterday that I was rocking a little squirming bundle while singing Dixie? She's excited about it, but also a little nervous and having a few pangs anxiety. I think she'll be fine as soon as she settles into a routine.


Beans told her Momma that she wanted to go so school too, "cause I know my ABCD's".

As I was sitting in the bathroom with her this morning for a full 25 minutes of singing and nursery rhyme reciting, I realized with some sadness that this is another activity that will soon be over. She'll be able to go potty without needing Nanaw's or Momma's company and encouragement.

Oh Lordy, I never figured I'd be getting sentimental over the potty trips!

Outside My Window

Zach and I have been trying to get a shot of some visiting hummingbirds for over a month now, so he came up with the bright idea to move the little feeder to a place outside the dining room window so we could watch for them. It's a fragile set-up, one good gust of wind will toss it over, but it's done us well over the past few days.





These first two captures are Zach's. Didn't he do a wonderful job? He has more patience and determination than I do (before his meds start to wear off anyway). He also isn't cooking supper, and folding clothes, in between hummer visits. :-) He got several shots like this the other day, I'm so proud!

This is the only one of mine that wasn't all blurry. I think it's the male but he's not turned so we can see his red throat.

We sure had a lot of fun trying and I think he's starting to catch Nanaw's photography bug, I sure hope so, I need a partner!

Y'all have a great weekend now, ya hear?

SkyWatch Friday # 5

It's SkyWatch Friday time again, didn't this week go by fast?

I had to dig back into some of my 2007 files this week cause our skies were mostly smooth gray cloudy until late yesterday, and today I've been straight up lazy about getting out to see if there was something up there brilliant enough to share.

There wasn't.

But I'm sure if you click on the SkyWatch link you'll find that there were some excellent sky views in other parts of the world. They're fine folks over there so you may want to join them and post your own SkyWatch photos.



September fog. The nights are a little cooler in September but the days are still sweltering once the sun comes up. I suppose the land gets heated enough during the day that the cooler nights cause a little condensation. I Love looking out at the fog as the sun rises.

A hot September sunset here in the dusty Mississippi River Delta.

I took this shot back in May. I love to see the fields of ripened wheat before the huge combines come to cut it all down. On the horizon, way back there, is Crowley's Ridge, the highest spot of land in the delta here in Arkansas. The ridge runs from southeastern Missouri to Helena, Arkansas, where it comes to an abrupt end. They tell me that Jesse James used to travel Crowley's Ridge when the posses would get after him in Missouri.

It's That Time Again

Summer used to last longer that it does now, didn't it? Back when I was in school (you know, when those dinosaurs were hanging around), we never started school until after Labor Day and those extra two weeks or so made for a full 3 months of lazy days and lots of play.

Don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to school being in session again, but by doing so, I'm already dreading the end of summer, cause with the start of school, it means that there are only a few more weeks of it left. (Even though we don't really have any Autumn weather until late October/early November here).

I love long days of sunlight.

I love being warm.

I love seeing everything green and growing.




Last night we went to the Parent's Open House at school. I filled out the usual forms, paid class fees, bought a new journal for Zach to record his assignments in, picked up a list of supplies he'll need, and spoke to his homeroom teacher. He had this teacher in the 4th grade so he was happy to have her again this year. I didn't meet his other two teachers but hope to be able to do that soon.

I sure hope he has a good year this year because next year he'll be over in the High School building with the big kids and have a few more teachers.

A Name for Our Election Process This Year

Electile Dysfunction : The inability to become aroused over any of the choices for President put forth by either party in the 2008 election year.

TO DO: If I get around to it.

First off today, I must get dressed and drive over to pay the bills, pick up the bookwork, and do the banking for the Improvement District.

After that I'll drive into town to our bank to get the man some extra money for his wallet because he's been elected to take his mother for a doctor's appointment in Little Rock on Wednesday. His disabled brother (the one who had the stroke a couple of years ago) and his sister are going along for the ride. I could elaborate a little more about this trip but I won't right now because it gets my blood to boiling and I'd like to remain calm today.

The third thing on my list is to tackle Zach's closet, the one that's full of toys, parts of toys, odd socks, underwear, probably a dirty shirt or two, and numerous other items that probably don't belong in there but end up there just because.

I guess I better get moving.

I sure wish someone would stop me.

Tomatoes and Okra

By noon yesterday I felt as though I'd been up to my eyeballs in tomatoes for many more hours than I actually was. From start to finish, I worked on those luscious, red, fruits for about 5 hours and the end result was 14 canned pints of delicious.

Those are gonna taste mighty fine in soups and chili during the cold winter months.

I also canned 7 pints and 4 quarts of pickled okra last week. Most of those are for one of the college kids that works down on the farm, he grows it, picks it, and sends it to me to pickle for him.

I'm not doing anything today that I don't have to.

Hope everyone's having a great weekend!

Photo Challenge: Play

Sharon's our hostess for this challenge and she chose for us to snap Play pictures. It was a great challenge and not too hard cause you know our kids do a whole lot of playing around here.

To see all of the gracious participates in this challenge, you can hop over to the Photo Challenge Blog. I'm going now, see y'all there.

Happy Birthday Miz Donna!

SkyWatch Friday #4

We had a surprise storm last Sunday evening and afterwards, as the setting sun was trying to break through, there was the most amazing orange glow over everything.

Same old stuff going on here so I thought I'd put up a few photos to fill the empty space.
Hope everyone's having a great Thursday.

Just Pooped

I'm tired, really tired, but I'll get back into the swing of things soon. Hope everyone's having a great week!

Say a Prayer

Please forgive me for my ramblings about our babies, but this summer, my life has been full of those babies, one or more of them every day. After school starts, I'm going to take my camera and run away for a few hours to just wander.

Maybe, if I have any energy left by then.

Yesterday was hectic, the kids fought, they wrestled, they argued, they chased, and romped, and ate everything that didn't eat them first. They did all this indoors. I'd have put them outside to run around and get rid of all that energy but it's been too hot to breath out there and kids know nothing about heat exhaustion, they just go on, and on, and on.

Jerri, Alexis, and Beans came by after Alexis' kindergarten registration so it got really wild here then cause they all love to play together, all at once.

Jami came in from work and after a little visiting, she gathered her chicks to go home, but before they walked out the door I said, "When you girls are saying your prayers tonight please ask God to help you to be good tomorrow cause Nanaw needs a break." Jami went out the door shaking her head, "Oh Lord, my roof's going to fall in on my head with all that lying going on during their prayers."

I'm Up,,,,

But I sure did want to stay in the bed this morning. I did nearly nothing over the weekend, I did can a few jars of pickled okra, and watch a few movies, but for the most part, we stayed in out of the dreadful heat and humidity.

Zach, Merikate, and Abby are already wrestling, fighting, and tattling, and the girls only arrived less than an hour ago. If I hear someone wail Nanaw one more time,,,I think I'll just cry.

Or maybe I should change my name.

I'm getting too damned old for this.

More about SkyWatch, and Fornicating Bugs Photos

I should have put a link in my SkyWatch Friday post to tell others how to join in the fun but I reckon I was so excited about it being my first time, and anxious about if I was doing it right, that I forgot.

All ya gotta do is take your photo, or use one you've previously taken, and then click on the link and add the url to your photo on the SkyWatch blog. You can read all about it over there and also view some, or all, of the WONDERFUL shots that others have already submitted for this week. I'm still working on seeing them all and I plan to be done before the next SkyWatch, I hope!

I used the url that takes the viewer directly to my skywatch post (click on Links to this Post which is right after your comments link on your post), that way, they go to that post rather than having to scroll through other posts I've done since to get to it.

Lordy I'm horrible at trying to explain these things that rattle around in my head, y'all forgive me please.







Now, on to those fornicating bugs that were using one of the sunflowers as a buggy motel. Aren't they Ugly? You can click the photos to make them larger but that also makes them uglier. I have no idea what they are except that they're BIG, almost as big as a half dollar. I sure hope these were adult critters and not teenagers who still have some growing to do.

Thank you so much for all of the birthday wishes! I had a really nice day and received the most wonderful presents, James made the most delicious grilled dinner and some of our babies came to have dinner and eat cake with Nanaw. Thank you Miz Donna for the great book and sweet cards, and Miz Phyllis for the wonderful e-card!

Tomorrow's Saturday, James and Zach are leaving early to go fishing, Nanaw's sleeping late. Yeah!!!!