Photo Challenge - Red

I bought PopPop a box of chocolates for VDay so I was sneaking and got a shot of the box before I hid it.

I love the taste of a deep red pickled beet.

His and Hers preserves. I don't care for anything that's too sweet so I love the sugar free Red Raspberry preserves cause Splenda just doesn't seem to be as sweet as sugar. Pop and Zach want theirs loaded with sweet.

To view some very talented shooters, please visit the Photo Challenge Blog and click on the entrants there.

MORAL FOR TODAY

One day a farmer's donkey fell down into a
well. The animal cried piteously for hours as
the farmer tried to figure out what to do.

Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the
well needed to be covered up anyway;
it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey.

He invited all his neighbors to come over and
help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began
to shovel dirt into the well. At first, the
donkey realized what was happening and cried
horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement he
quieted down.

A few shovel loads later, the farmer finally
looked down the well. He was astonished at what
he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his
back, the donkey was doing something amazing.
He would shake it off and take a step up.

As the farmer's neighbors continued to shovel
dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it
off and take a step up.

Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as the donkey
stepped up over the edge of the well and
happily trotted off!

Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds
of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well
is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of
our troubles is a steppingstone. We can get out
of the deepest wells just by not stopping,
never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up.

NOW .......
Enough of that crap. The donkey later came back,
and bit the farmer who had tried to bury him.
The gash from the bite got infected and
the farmer eventually died in agony from septic shock.

MORAL FROM TODAY'S LESSON:

When you do something wrong, and try to cover
your ass, it always comes back to bite you.

It Was Close!

The ice made the snow geese visit the harvested fields again in a feeding frenzy.

The ice make everything look magical but two more hours of freezing rain would have probably put out the electricity and a degree or two colder might have made our roads as big a mess as they were along I40 to the north of us. My willow tree did a lot of creaking and moaning but she held on to her limbs.

James was nice enough to take me for a drive to the horse pasture down the road a bit where I took this picture and the one below.


Only my HughesNet satellite was out for a couple of days; not pleasant but not a disaster. Click on the photos to see the bigger picture.

Photo Challenge - The Best of 2009

I found it so difficult to choose favorites/bests for 2009 but I decided that these would do. Dirty little hands and a resigned little "hoppy", what wonderful memories!

A splashy pink bloom opening up as a sign of Spring.

A once familiar summer sight. Krysten, MeriKate, and Abby cooling off in the neighbor's pool.

I've had to go round the back way to post for this challenge because we're in the midst of an ice storm; we have electricity but the HughesNet satellite is down which is par for their course. Odd how it hasn't affected our Direct TV satellite, hmmmm?

Anyway, got this trusty dial-up going here so I'm going to try to post my BEST of 2009 for the Photo Challenge. Don't forget to go over to the Photo Challenge Blog created by Miz Donna down there in the great state of Texas and click on the other participants in the comments to see all their great photos.

What I Want In A Man

What I Want In A Man!
Original List:

1. Handsome
2. Charming
3. Financially successful
4. A caring listener
5. Witty
6. In good shape
7. Dresses with style
8. Appreciates finer things
9. Full of thoughtful surprises

What I Want in a Man, Revised List (age 32)

1. Nice looking
2. Opens car doors, holds chairs
3. Has enough money for a nice dinner
4. Listens more than talks
5. Laughs at my jokes
6. Carries bags of groceries with ease
7. Owns at least one tie
8. Appreciates a good home-cooked meal
9. Remembers birthdays and anniversaries

What I Want in a Man, Revised List (age 42)

1. Not too ugly
2. Doesn't drive off until I'm in the car
3. Works steady - splurges on dinner out occasionally
4. Nods head when I'm talking
5. Usually remembers punch lines of jokes
6. Is in good enough shape to rearrange the furniture
7. Wears a shirt that covers his stomach
8. Knows not to buy champagne with screw-top lids
9. Remembers to put the toilet seat down
10. Shaves most weekends

What I Want in a Man, Revised List (age 52)

1. Keeps hair in nose and ears trimmed
2. Doesn't belch or scratch in public
3. Doesn't borrow money too often
4. Doesn't nod off to sleep when I'm venting
5. Doesn't re-tell the same joke too many times
6. Is in good enough shape to get off the couch on weekends
7. Usually wears matching socks and fresh underwear
8. Appreciates a good TV dinner
9. Remembers your name on occasion
10. Shaves some weekends

What I Want in a Man, Revised List (age 62)

1. Doesn't scare small children
2. Remembers where bathroom is
3. Doesn't require much money for upkeep
4. Only snores lightly when asleep
5. Remembers why he's laughing
6. Is in good enough shape to stand up by himself
7. Usually wears some clothes
8. Likes soft foods
9. Remembers where he left his teeth
10. Remembers that it's the weekend

What I Want in a Man, Revised List (age 72)

1. Breathing.
2. Doesn't miss the toilet.

Thanks Miz Donna!

A new Teenager in the House!

Chocolate Cake with Chocolate covered cherries on top.

Jessie came by, Zach's oldest friend.

For a few days now we've had a bunch of snow geese settling in at the corn field across and down the road from our house. You can see our house across the field here (it's the one on the right).

This is all the snow we've had. The temperatures have been gruesome; colder than an Alaskan well diggers arse for sure. I think it's supposed to climb up to 30 degrees tomorrow so that might feel like a heat wave! Tuesday it's supposed to be up to 55, almost warm enough for swimming. :-)

I'm keeping up with the 365 project, barely.

Chance of Snow and the Undead

The weather forecasters around here are using that S word again for tonight and tomorrow and to add insult to,,,,well,,,insult, they're also predicting an Arctic blast worse than the present Arctic blast we're having.

People in east central Arkansas are spoiled. We may recall that we had freezing temperatures in the teens and single digits that lasted more than a day or two way back a few Winters ago, but we really do tend to put all those nasty doings out of mind during the mostly moderate, mostly bearable, mostly temperate Winters that are par for our courses. We are wimps who don't drive well when frozen precipitation is landing on our roadways and we just plain don't cotton to having cold hands and feet for months at a time.

However, it IS cold and it MIGHT snow or do something icy. I'll take pictures and tell you all about it if it does.

On to another subject,,,

I'm lovin' this Kindle! It's so easy to find and download books and there are loads of reading material to be had too. I downloaded my first book on Christmas day but only started reading it this evening cause I've been trying to finish the latest Cornwell book, The Scarpetta Factor.

Anyway, I've downloaded a book that I think will probably give me more than a few nightmares. I'm reading "Day by Day Armageddon" by JL Bourne. I should have known better cause every Zombie book I've ever read and Zombie movie I've ever seen has given me some wicked weird night terrors. It does no good to be reminded that none of "it" is actually REAL,,, you know how your mind works when it's sleeping and collecting all those random thoughts from your day? Mine normally doesn't do that cause it's mostly thoughtlessly empty, but just let me read or watch a movie about the Undead and it's off to the firing neuron races and I end up awake at 3 a.m. convincing myself that those dogs aren't barking at anything resembling the,,,,undead.

Did I mention that this ebook has a sequel? You know what that means.

Ok, done with the brain twitches.

For day 6 of project 365 you can click here but you don't have to leave a comment. I'll try to put a link to that photoblog on facebook too.

I hope everyone is staying warm!!

Project 365-5

I couldn't get this to upload on my photoblog, not sure if it's due to my crappy HughesNet connection or a problem over at photoblog, so I'm posting it here.

Not much else happening around here today except that I wimped/wigged/freaked out whilst they tried to complete an MRI today and no amount of prodding or pleading will ever get me back in one of those things unless I'm totally unconscious! Guess they'll have to go some other route,,,they tell me they have open MRI machines somewhere.

I hope.

Mother Nature is Messing Around

See? Even my big, ol, fake, fat, frog has goosebumps. And a slight dusting of snow between his little froggy eyes. I was all prepared for a leisurely day at home,,,alone,,,and that tiny bit of snow shut down our wimpy school for the day, dammit.

Anyway, the sun broke through off and on, and then mostly on, and I got a pic for the 365 project when I got out of the bed or out from under my blanket for more than a second or two.

The weatherman speaks of more snow to come about mid-week and the frigid temps continue.

Baby It's Cold Outside!

These freezing temps are not doing one thing for my temperament. My feet are cold so I'm now sure that it's officially Winter time in eastern Arkansas.

Now I'll have to try to patiently wait for Spring, but patience is not one of my virtues.
Actually I'm not sure what/which, if any, virtues I have.

"A virtue is a character trait or quality valued as being good."

Well, maybe loyalty, or love. Those can be considered virtues can't they?

Anyway, enough rambling.

School starts back tomorrow ( creaky geriatric cartwheels, and squeals of delight) and the same old routine begins again.

And hey, I remembered day 3 of project 365! I'm on a roll here folks!

Day Two, over and out!

It's the evening of January 2nd already, before you know it, another January will be sliding on by.

Second picture of project 365 is of a delta sunrise.

We had leftovers and snacks today so the fridge is gradually emptying out of holiday fare. I'm thinking a good pot of soup would taste mighty fine for tomorrow. Maybe some chicken soup, yeah,,,,or some roasted rosemary chicken and veggies,,,,I guess I'll have to sleep on it.

Happy First Day of 2010!

I'm going to try to do the 365 photos, If

I don't forget,

And the creek don't rise and take my paddle,,,or something like that.

Jan. 1, 2010 photo.

I'm Ready for Anything.

Got Beer
Got Arbor Mist
Got Tia Maria for the coffee
Got snacks
Got movies
I'm ready to say adios to 2009 and welcome in a new decade!

You Know What?

I find it odd that reality TV has taken such a toe-hold in America.

,,,,I don't care if Tiger Woods had numerous girlfriends, he's still a great golfer. His girlfriends are nobodies business except his and his wife's.

,,,,I don't care if Jon and Kate are divorced. I don't think either of them are capable of thinking of anyone right now except themselves. The losers in all the drama are their children. How did their lives become so important that it had to be played out on TV anyway?

,,,,And don't get me started on OctoMom!

The best entertainment on TV lately has been the commercials. Have y'all seen the Beef Jerky commercials with the Sasquatch?

Christmas 09

Two of these are nieces, can you guess which ones (a hint, they're twins)? The other little divas are 5 of our granddaughters. This was the quietest they managed to be all evening; they were watching a movie on TV. I think it was a horror movie called Jack Frost or something very nonChristmasy.

Whew, I'm Beat!

I wanted to buy James a new shotgun for Christmas this year so today we went to Mack's Prairie Wing in Stuttgart, AR; quite a large sporting goods store. See the empty parking lot up there in the advertising photo? Well, today it was smack dab full, and as soon as I walked through the door and was bombarded with wall-to-wall human males clothed in cameo, I realized I had found Hell.

There wasn't room to walk so you sort of traversed with weaving motions through maze of bodies. Some were weaving themselves, some were merely standing in groups of 3 or more discussing their afternoon hunting plans, I believe some were even having family reunions. There were camouflaged persons who pushed and shoved their way through the aisles, and women with shopping carts prodding you from behind. Worst of all, it was impossible to tell which bodies were working there and which were shoppers, so after standing at one counter for about 30 minutes for a hunting knife purchase I'd had enough and started staggering my way through to the front doors and some much needed fresh air.

We did come home with a shotgun but we didn't buy it there cause I'm pretty sure we'd still be standing in line at one of those counters hoping that one of those folks we kept asking for help actually worked there.

I'm Trying here.

Tae Kwon Do is done till around mid-January.

I'm not through Christmas shopping and not sure when I will be.

Lacking the Christmas spirit and not sure it'll be happening.

Just all blah.

Come December

On or about December 1st I'm going to get back into the swing of things and do some serious blogging.

No more excuses.

Later dudes and dudettes. :-)

Photo Challenge - Ageless

It's time for a new challenge and the prompt this time is Ageless. I can't wait to see how everyone interprets this. Be sure to go over to our Photo Challenge Blog and click on the names of all the participants in the comments.


Ageless is "Old Man River". Can you imagine how long it took to carve its way from the far north state of Minnesota all the way down to the gulf? If he could only talk, the tales he could tell....

"Well, I built me a raft and she's ready for floatin'
Ol Mississippi she's callin' my name
Catfish are jumpin', that paddle wheel thumpin'
Black water keeps rolling on past just the same
Old black water, keep on rollin'
Mississippi moon won't you keep on shinin' on me?"

Ageless is our ancient moon. How many turns of the Earth has it witnessed since it's birth?

"Don't go around tonight, Well, it's bound to take your life, There's a bad moon on the rise."

Ageless is our ever eternal sunsets (and sunrises).

Red sails in the sunset, way out on the sea.
Oh, carry my loved one home safely to me.

Don't Forget the Photo Challenge Tomorrow!

The photo prompt is Ageless. Go sign up at our Photo Challenge Blog and show us what you've got. It's FUN!!

Learning to Drive

Every time I hear that song it reminds me of learning to drive when I was a kid. It was much different for me than it is for lots of kids these days because there aren't as many rural roads now as there were back then. By rural I mean unpaved roads that only had a few cars or trucks traveling them every day. The one we lived on when I drove for the first time was just under a mile long and it was a dirt lane shade lined with every kind of tree.

I think I was in about the 3rd grade when PaPaw decided that he could get busy farmin' earlier in the day if he taught me to drive my sister and I to school. It didn't deter him that although I could see enough of the road through the steering wheel to keep the car between the ditches, I couldn't see the road a'tall when I had to scoot down to push in the clutch to change gears. This didn't create too big a problem the times I scooted, pushed, and shifted all quick like, but when I didn't push in quite far enough and it wouldn't shift right off, I'd be weaving from one side of that little dirt lane to the other. That time right before we reached the end of the lane where I'd have to scoot way down in order to push in both brake and clutch, it finally happened. I wove too far one way or the other during my scootin' time and ran us off into the ditch. He took off walking and fussin' about how if I was gonna run into the ditch I could have done it back closer to the house so he wouldn't have to walk so far to get the tractor.

That was the end of my driving that day but by the time I was about 10 I could drive most things with wheels on it, if it would crank.

Tippy Toeing with an Occasional Trip

That's pretty much been what it's been like around here of late. It's rained, and rained, and rained some more, then the sun will pop out all bright and shiny for a day or two before it clouds up and dumps some more of the wet stuff. It's the makings of a nightmare harvest and these farmers around here are some very grumpy fellas.

The farm managers ain't real happy either.

And the wives of these men aren't being too terribly sociable.

On a better note, Alexis had all 100 - A's on her report card! Zach had 3 B's and 2 C's. Jami told me Krysten, Abbie, and MeriKate had A's and B's on their reports, so that's all good. I'm sure Jordan and Jaylen had A's across the board too because they're bright young'uns. Maybe we'll get all of these children through school some day, won't that be nice?

I attended the Parent/Teacher conferences at school on Wednesday with my usual aggravation about the parking around that place. The high school students take up the biggest portion of the parking and that doesn't leave a whole lot of room for the teachers and practically NONE for visiting parents. I mentioned to a board member that it might be practical to disallow the underage drivers a parking place even though they hold a "hardship" license to drive. I say this because according to the Arkansas DMV regulations, hardship licenses are not to be issued merely for the convience of the parents but I grant you, each and every one of the 14 and 15 yr olds who drive to school here has a school bus that goes by their house before and after school. Riding the bus would surely cut down on some of the traffic messes in front of the school as well.

Ok, all done tripping through my mind. I hope everyone is having a super weekend!

Highways and Bi-Ways Photo Challenge

Heading home after turning onto the first gravel road from the highway.

A right turn onto this gravel road takes you right to my drive after you travel just a bit less than a mile.

Standing in front of my drive looking north along the road.

Winding highway near Mountain View, Arkansas in the Ozarks.

Lastly here's a shadowy, cool, look at lost road again.

Thanks for coming by to see my Highways and Bi-Ways. Don't forget to skip over to the Photo Challenge Blog and click on the comment links to see all the other participants. This is always fun practice with our cameras!

Get Real!

I don't need to watch Jon and Kate on TLC to get a dose of reality cause we've got a soap opera type of reality going on here in the delta most every damned day.

Trish isn't speaking to me now for the past good while because of my "hateful ways". I know I have plenty of those but I'm not quite sure just how that applies in this case, however I'm respecting her wishes cause I'm all out of the energy it takes to try to figure out what I've done wrong this time.

Jami and her girls loaded up last night and moved to Union City, TN and I'm not happy about that either. I won't elaborate on this right now because my fuse is short on the subject.

James continues to take off his boots and leave them on the porch to get rained on (and it's rained a LOT lately), and continues to bitch and moan because he forgot to bring them in and they're all wet inside. I don't know about you, but after doing this once I think I'd have learned my lesson from having squishy feet.

That's all for now but I'll think of some more later, I'm sure.

So, you want reality? Come on over, I'll give you a big dose of it and you won't have to watch any commercials.

WAIT, wait! Don't forget the newest Photo Challenge that's happening tomorrow! Hop on over to the fine Photo Challenge Blog that Miz Donna fixed up for us and sign up to join in the comments. Get to shootin' some Highways & Bi-ways!

Creaks and Moans

The sounds around here are not from a Halloween booger but do to me whining cause my back and legs have been paining me something ferocious lately. I do a little, wait for the pain to ease, then do a little more. I gotta tell ya, not a whole lot is getting done around here.

Looking Back on the Week

The Chick told her momma:

I know where Lost Vegas is and I know where Lost Angeles is, but where in the heck is the Awful Tower?


Beans cons James into a ride on the 4wheeler any time that he's at home at mid-afternoon and she's in the neighborhood. On Wednesday she insisted they go a mile or so down the road so she could show him a dead possum that someone had run over. Then on the way back home she had him stop the ATV so she could stand on the front and sing the Hannah Montana song to him. Her interests cover a wide range.


Abbey has new glasses! She looks SO sweet in them!


Cause I just keep going back in time.

And it's 1, 2, 3, ,,,,

Sometimes this song slips into my mind and just plays itself over and over even now, all these years later it seems just as appropriate.

Obama’s Speech Lacked Punch

Obama’s Speech Lacked Punch


I like this guy.

Photo Challenge - Pets

These two kitties were residents at the corner farm stand and were nice enough to patiently poses for me.

I almost let this one get by me. I was in the bed already and it came to me that this was October! Next I remembered what the date was in October, and then I remembered that Cindra and I had just talked about it being time for the Pet Photo challenge.

Don't forget to go over to the Photo challenge blog and click on the comments to see everyone's great challenge photos!

It's About Time

Beginning Thursday it will become illegal to text and drive in Arkansas. This is a good thing but I think they should make the fines a little stiffer in order to really begin to deter accidents and deaths from this idiotic practice.

Maybe if they make the laws at the federal level and up the fine.

Muscadine : The South's Own Grape

Soul asked me what a muscadine was so I thought I'd post a picture and a little information about this wild (or cultivated) southern grape.

They're a good bit larger than most grape varieties and they're very good for you, even better than blueberries and blackberries some say. The skin is tougher than regular grapes and after I bite into one and enjoy the sweet, juicy insides, I love to chew on the skin to get that last burst of muscadine flavor. Grandma used to make purple muscadine jelly from the skins and white muscadine jelly from the insides.

Delicious!

Another favorite way to enjoy this fruit is muscadine wine. Post Familie winery in Arkansas makes some of my favorite varities; red, white, blush, all wonderful!

Whenever I taste a muscadine it brings back memories of walking along the cotton field turn rows in September looking for vines loaded with those wonderful fruits.

Happy Fall Y'all!

The farm stand a few miles down the road is all decorated for Fall.

Fall is a lovely season, but it makes me sad too cause the days are getting shorter and shorter,

And I know that Fall leads to Winter and I so hate to be cold.

Maybe Winter will pass in a flash like our summer did
and it'll be Spring then Summer again.

Short List

We thought Willie died, but he didn't. His brother did die though and that's very sad news for Willie.



Jillian, aka, Beans, declined her asparagus at supper and decided she rather have a taste of the Elephant Ear plants growing in the flower beds. She bled, she swelled, she couldn't swallow for a bit, but the poison control center said Elephant Ear caladiums are not poisonous but she will have those icky reactions (mouth bleeding, swelling, problems swallowing) for a few hours. We need to find a better way for her to get her greens.

Photo Challenge - Food

A Kid's favorite cuisine always includes fast food burgers and fries. Wendy's burgers are almost bearable.

These next photos are of some of our babies enjoying so cool, sweet, watermelon. From looking at Bean's size these were taken about 3 years ago. The first one is of Jordan.

Here you have the Beans.

The Chick and Beans.

This is one of my snacks, a cup of coffee and a cookie for dunking.

Miz Donna chose food as our challenge prompt this time and I've had to scrounge through some old photos to find some. Time just got away from me; not because I've been busy or anything, but just in a fog and quite lazy about doing most everything.

Anyway, y'all don't forget to go over to the Photo challenge Blog and click on the links in the comments to see everyone's Food challenge photos.

Remembering Ben

In memory and in honor of her sweet grandson, Ben, Miz Sally is having a wonderful giveaway for a lucky young person. All you Mommas, and Aunties, and Grandmas, Grandpas, Uncles, and Daddies too, should hop on over there to see what it's all about!

7th Grade Barton Bears Football

We've got little uns

and

We've got a couple of big uns.

They all looked like real ball players out there, even with their coaches assisting them to keep them lined up like they were supposed to be.

Those were some big ol' boys raised on the banks of the White River that our little Bears played last night. But that's ok, ours will grow and losing their first game by just one touchdown ain't bad.

A Waste of Time

I've been thinking for some time now about some of the problems going on in this great country of ours and I spent quite some time doing research so that I'd have all the facts to support my opinions.

I've decided now that it's all just a waste of time because, if the truth be known, the citizens in this great country of ours could not get together and agree on anything if their lives, or even their children's lives depended on it.

For every truth one finds 20 untruths and, as often is the case, it doesn't seem to be about if something read, or said, is the truth or not, but it's whoever can protest, yell, and holler, or afford the cheesiest television ads who gets noticed and who is eventually believed by a whole lot of people who don't know any better.

And you know something else that is so sad? The conservatives who expressed this terrible fear over the past week that the president's address to our students would be used to push a partisan political agenda, that's what.

Friends, we shouldn't worry about what terrorists might do to our country. We're well on the road to destroying it ourselves.