I needed to get out of the house for a little while on Saturday so Jerri and I took a drive. We left my house and made a short loop around some of the country roads. The photos above were taken on lost road where I've taken photos before. It was cloudy but the leaves still made for some pretty pictures. I love taking pictures of that old house. I don't know who owns it or who lived in it back when, but I love imagining how it was when a family might have lived in it. If you click to enlarge the picture you can see a curtain still at the one window that's not hidden by trees and other growth.

A Lotta Ups and downs Last Week

The word is that his job won't be over until the end of January so that gives us a little over 2 months to try to scrape up all the funds we can gather to pay off as much as we can and just start all over. My plans were to have everything paid off by the time James was old enough to draw social security because Farm managing doesn't offer retirement, you just grow old and die on the job, but best laid plans apparently don't include an employer who's lost his ass playing the market (this is the most frequently heard rumor, and there are many. The man himself has not told them anything). I've been praying about it and so far I can only hear God whispering, "What are they gonna do girl, take away your birthday? They can't take what you don't have."

The visitors have been flocking in around here like vultures to hear all the details; like we know anything other than unemployment is looming in the near future. I wouldn't even get out of the bed for a long time yesterday because the coffee crowd in my living room sounded like a bunch at a funeral gathering. At least he goes in tomorrow to start getting all the farm equipment ready to sell, and will be out of this house and out of my hair for a few hours.

My plans for tomorrow include going to school to sit in on Zach's classes. He got in trouble again last week for not doing some of his homework. He's in even more trouble for lying; he told his teacher that I had taken his homework out of his folder and threw it away. So,,,maybe if I sit in the classroom with him for a few days, his embarrassment will provide him with enough incentive to DO HIS DANGED HOMEWORK and NOT LIE in the future.

Brenda Photo Challenge: Water

A little waterfall at the Memphis Zoo.

Zach loves to fish! This is the only activity I know of where he'll sit patiently for hours.

Alexis and,,

Zach and MeriKate, cooling off under the irrigation pivot that sprays water across the edge of our yard.

Thank you Miz Maria for being our hostess for this photo challenge, and thank you for choosing our
topic. Y'all can go over to the Photo Challenge Blog and click the comments to see all the other pictures for this challenge. Everyone is invited to join in, the more the merrier!

Ginkgo Glory

I had to drive over to "old" Helena this morning to take Zach for his monthly doctor's appointment and this time of the year the drive doesn't bother me a bit because of the color show that the trees put on.

Of all the colorful fall foliage, the Ginkgo trees are my favorite. That's a Ginkgo tree in my header and the pictures above are trees in front of, and near, the doctor's office. I really wish I had thought to plant one of them in my yard back years ago because they're really magnificent trees.

Ginkgo Facts

The Ginkgo is the sole living link between the lower and higher plants, between ferns and conifers. It is is regarded as a living fossil.

There are male and female Ginkgo trees. The male tree usually has a slim column form and is slightly longer, the female tree has a wider crown and a more spread out form.

The extract of the dried leaves is popular for their use as a diet supplement and/or herbal medicine (prescribed in Europe) for the brain, legs, eyes, heart and ears. Scientific studies show that good extracts may improve bloodcirculation and memory, prevent bloodclotting, damage by free radicals and give an improved sense of well-being and can be used for many other disorders. The leaves are also used as tea for a variety of ailments.

The Ginkgo can have a long life span, 1,000 or older. In China the oldest Ginkgo is about 3,500 years old!


I want to remind everyone about the Photo Challenge for tomorrow. Miz Maria is our lovely hostess this time and she chose "Water" as our challenge topic. Y'all be sure to go over and sign up in the comments if you haven't already. We really love to see everyone's pictures!

I'm a little slow this week with visiting my favorite bloggers, but don't give up on me, I'll get there, I promise!

I'm Tired

I'm angry.

I'm scared.

I'm afraid if I start crying I'll never stop.

Then I get a phone call, it's Jerri telling me a Beans story.

Beans: Momma you got hiccup medicine?

Momma: No Beans, they don't make hiccup medicine. Hold your breath.

Beans blows into her hand and quickly closes her hand over it.

It Seemed to Happen Overnight

The turning of the leaves in the Mississippi delta in Arkansas.

When It Rains It Pours

My husband has had only 2 jobs since 1972 when after he decided farming for himself wasn't going to feed us, he went to work as a tractor driver. He worked himself up into a farm management position there and changed jobs after 22 years. For the last 15 years he's been working for a farming corporation as one of their farm managers, doing the same work.

That's all he knows. He knows how to make a cotton crop, or a soybean crop, or a rice, corn, or milo crop. He can keep the equipment running; keep the farm hands busy doing their jobs; keep the day to day operations of a farm going. He's never been late, never missed a day of working from "can to can't" that he was supposed to work unless he was too ill or too injured to walk. And he's never asked a man working under him to do a job that he wasn't right there doing it with him.

Today the farm owner decided he is done. He's shutting down the numerous farms and selling everything. He's selling most of his other businesses too. This decision is putting a big hunk of the work force population of this county out of work and it's really, really bad news because the economy was crappy in this county even before it was crappy everywhere else in America. This man probably paid the only fair wages to be found around here.

My husband is almost 57 and he's now trying to figure out where he's going to find a job come January or February that will pay him enough to pay our bills.

My health problems are such that I'm doubting my ability to pass a physical, but I've printed out my resume so I can go tomorrow to begin a job search.

We've been down before but not with the debt that we have now from the loss of our home to a fire 6 years ago. We're going to make it, but I sure am feeling sick to my stomach right now.

Hell, I just thought last week was bad.

I'd Really, Really, Rather Be on a Hot Tropical Island Somewhere

Instead I'm sitting here, landlocked, in Arkansas with an 11 yr old boy who's in some deep dodo with his Nanaw and his Math and Spelling teacher.

He was selected by his homeroom teacher to be Student of the Month for October. Great news, isn't it? I was elated for him; ready to do backflips except for the possibility of having to have a crane service come pick me up afterwards. ,,, Then I checked his grades. Since October 30th, he's managed to lose the the two A's he had (one all the way down to a D), and drop down to D's in a couple of his previous B classes. So he was already in hot water around here.

On Friday I got a call from the elementary councilor. It seems that Mr. Zach didn't do his homework on Wednesday night or Thursday night. It also seems that this same young man, talked one of his friends into allowing him to copy his Wednesday night homework so that he wouldn't get into trouble for not doing it. Someone told on them and they both got in trouble. Zach had a note to bring home for me to sign, and was to miss lunch recess for 3 days.

Do you think he learned the lesson he should have from this? You'd think, huh?

Not this child. He decided that getting in trouble at school was punishment enough, so he signed the note with my initials then took it back. He also decided not to do his homework for Thursday night for the two classes taught by the teacher he was in trouble with. (I'm still trying to figure out if he thought this was going to punish her in some way. What's the deal??)

So, on Friday I get the call, and in addition to the punishment for his first educational crime, he got a paddling from the principal for forging my initials. Which I think is far easier to deal with than my punishment; I've made him redo all of the Math homework for last week, and tomorrow he's to do 3 pages of review problems that cover the chapter that he's having a test on Tuesday. He also has to complete all of next weeks assignments in Spelling instead of waiting until next week to do them.

I love him more than life, but I sure don't like him very much right now.

So, I'm just beginning to calm myself down a bit today; I was just busy trying to keep Zach seated long enough to do all of that work, when in walks my Uncle Tommy. About 2 minutes after we hug and ask how everyone's doing he mentions that he needs to take a trip down to Fort Walton Beach, FL around Thanksgiving to check on another uncle who's been ill for years, and who he has not been able to reach through his family. About a minute after this announcement he mentions how hard those long drives are on him. (he's in his early 80's so heck yeah they're hard on him, they're hard on me!).

After we'd talked a little more about what was going on with my Florida uncle, I told him if he could wait until the day after Thanksgiving and come back that Sunday or Monday, I'd go with him to help with the drive down and back.

So now, it's wait and see time cause he'll have to check with all the sick uncles here to see if someone will be around to help out with them if he leaves during that time. I'm not looking forward to the trip because I have a strong suspicion that we'll have to get confrontational with Florida Uncle's family down there about their not answering their phones when his Arkansas family calls.

Ok, that's it from me today. I hope everyone's having a much happier weekend than it's been so far around here.

Busy Beans

The Scene: Jerri and James (Bubbie) are sitting in the yard at the picnic table watching the girls play. Jillian comes bouncing over with one of her daddy's golf clubs,,,

Jillian (aka Beans) : Daddy, be weel still, it won't hurt much.

Daddy James: Jillian, don't hit me with that golf club,,,

WHACK!

Daddy James: moans.

Jillian: Daddy, it will be ok, it only hurts a little bit.


The man can't fuss, this child is so much like he was when he was small. Payback's the devil, isn't it?

I Wish

The Presidential election of 2008 opens up a new era in the history of our country. I want so badly for it to be the beginning of so many good things for all of it's citizens, not just a few.

My first wish for our country in this new era is that we can put the equal back in equal rights by making the Human race the only race card of importance. While looking at the red and blue map of the United States last night, I was saddened at first by a pattern that said to me that prejudice, by all races, is still alive and well in our great country; I truly had expected to see a mixed pattern of reds in blues across the map. However, once I looked at the actual figures in those pockets of red, and pockets of blue, I saw that the numbers showed a clearer picture of the voters feelings and a much more mixed pattern did begin to emerge.

Maybe there's hope for us yet.

I wish to see the decline of Money as being the only powerful influence of importance in our government; allow the decisions about our welfare as American citizens to be put back into our hands instead of the hands of the wealthiest, who seem to only have themselves and their cronies in mind when they vote on laws and policies.

Another wish of mine is to see our citizens take pride in their work ethics; stop wanting something for nothing; stop trying to figure out a way to beat the system for services or monetary gains they're not entitled to. I'm not only aiming this as a wish for the lower wage earners, who seem to be mostly blamed for this, but also those business owners and/or corporate bigwigs who fudge about this expense or that one on their tax returns. Oh, I could tell you stories, yes indeed I could, of such blatant expense reporting irregularities; ones that when added up, would probably repair a big hunk of the deficient in our economy.

My final wish is to see a health care system that's not run by the profit-hungry insurance and pharmaceutical companies. If something is not done about the system as it's being allowed to run today, the baby boomers, who are quickly becoming our seniors, will soon find themselves gravely ill from mediocre care (when the companies actually allow the care), and broke from trying to pay for it. Somehow the American citizens have been scared out of their wits about the possibility of a national healthcare system but I've got to tell you, I lived in a foreign country, and was provided better care by a village doctor than was provided by the doctors on the military base nearby. And because my stepmother was English, I was provided this wonderful care for no charge, and without having to fill out a mound of paperwork beforehand.

We can whine about loss or cheer about a victory but each and every one of us had better get with the program and get our great country back on the right path. The President elect deserves our help to get 'er done.

VOTE!

Tis the Season to Hunt Again

In September there was dove hunting season. I know the exact moment that this season comes in because it is accompanied by the banging and booming of the shotguns going off at daylight in my back yard.

In October squirrel hunting season came in. The man who can't carry the trash out because it's raining, will wander and wade all day in the woods, in the mud, shooting at squirrels. Guess who has a pile of dripping clothes to wash after he gets home?

Now quail season is open. The man is a serious quail hunter. He has 3 dogs, all pointers, he has the training collar, the ATV, the vest with many pockets, he even has a gps thingy so he won't get lost. However, he's forgotten how to use it since the last time he used it which was last Fall.

Daniel Boone, he's not.

You'd think because the Man loves to hunt that he'd always be able to put his hands on everything he needs to hunt, wouldn't you?

It ain't happening.

It takes him at least a couple of hours of searching before he's finally ready to leave, by which time, I'm ready to take up hunting myself, and not for some sweet little furry or feathered creature. He puts things "up" and then forgets where he puts them. It makes perfect sense to me for him to put all of the things he needs for hunting in one place, but apparently this is not how he does things. He has this idea that someone is moving his stuff from where he KNOWs he's put it, just so they'll have to listen to him bitching and griping about not being able to find it.

In my defense, I'd never do that. Why would I delay the feelings of perfect peace that I have when he's finally out the door and on his way to the woods? In their defense, the kids would never do that either. They wouldn't want to see their Nanaw biting bullets because their PopPop was still climbing atop the chairs to look atop every cabinet and into every nook and cranny, leaving a trail of stuff in his wake.

We need a room, in another building, far away from the house, to put his hunting gear. Maybe with a cot, a TV, and a remote.

I'm Not Cranky All the Time

I was pretty cranky Friday morning because I knew I was going to have to make a trip into town to do the monthly banking and go to the dreaded Wal Mart. It makes me cranky most any day that I have to get dressed so there were those two strikes against the day to start off.

I walked what felt like 500 miles up one aisle and down another while trying to find the things on my short list. I was very pleased with myself for actually remembering the list, but it didn't seem to save a whole lot of time since they keep MOVING everydamnedthing in that place.

Who would have imagined that the marshmallows would be over on the aisle with the juices, on a shelf at floor level, below the jello?

Not me.

I finally found all of the things for the kiddy party that I had forgotten the first time I went, and was wandering around between the THREE lanes that were open. I finally just pushed my cart in behind a lady who seemed to have been shopping for a whole month, and waited.

While waiting, retired football Coach and Mrs. Coach pushed their buggy in behind mine, so I at least had someone to pass the time with. We chatted about what they'd been doing, how the kids were, and about Mrs. Coach's experiences with back surgery. She'd had a bad experience with a quacky doc who'd cut twice without fixing anything, finally changed doctors and was on the mend from the 3 surgery (which finally fixed her up). After a few minutes of chatting, Coach decided he'd forgotten to get some hair gel, so off he went to find that item.

The lady in front of me had finally finished loading up the conveyor thingy and her stuff had moved enough for me to place my things behind the divider. When the checker started on my stuff, I noticed that Coach hadn't returned (you know that men have a harder time finding things than we do), so I unloaded Mrs. Coach's items so she wouldn't have to (she was still in a back brace). I had to laugh as I left, cause Coach was still somewhere looking for the hair gel. I bet Mrs. Coach was a little perturbed by then.

I made it to my truck, threw my stuff into the back seat, and as I was pushing the buggy into the slot thingy, I noticed a lady was almost in tears standing beside a big suburban next to where I'd parked. I asked her if she was ok; if there was anything I could do to help, and she told me she'd locked her keys in the car and the door pad wasn't taking her unlock code. I noticed the passenger window was down a couple of inches so I asked her if she had purchased anything with a long handle that I could put down inside the window to push the door lock thing.

That was a negative.

Then, a light bulb went off in my mostly empty head, and I went to my truck, reached in, and came out with Zach's tae kwon do practice sword.

A few people were giving me some strange looks but nobody ran or anything, so I slid it out of the scaboard and slid the blade down inside the window and pushed the lock button.

There. All done.

I went back to my truck, climbed in, and as I drove away I got to thinkin'.

I sure hope that suburban belonged to that lady, cause I had just helped her break into it.

With a sword.

I was watching out for blue lights and listening for sirens when I left the parking lot.

Photo Challenge: Emotions

Feeling Determined

Ice cream Satisfaction!

He Scores! Playful and Proud!

Feeling Wishful

Definitely feeling Threatened :-)

We're Thoughtful. What are we going to do next?

I had to go to my photo archives for most of these but I hope they're all emotionally appealing. It was a fun challenge!

Miz Cindra is our hostess with the mostest for this challenge. She chose "Emotions" for the challenge topic. I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with for this one. Don't forget to go to our Photo Challenge site and click on each commenter to see their interpretation.

We love to add challengers to our list so please get your cameras out, start snapping, and JOIN US!

Happy Halloween!

Our back yard will be full of little monsters tonight; I hope we can make it through without any trips to the emergency room. Wish us luck!

Happy Trick-or-Treating!

Jack Frost and Other Stuff

Jack came to visit us a couple of mornings this week. It was his first visit for this season but I'm sure it won't be his last cause he's a fairly frequent visitor in the wintertime around here. My poor, little, pitiful, flowering pear tree must be shivering down to her cute little roots cause this is her first visit from ol Jack. I hope she's not too traumatized to bloom come Spring.

Zach picked the tomatoes and I cut some of the sunflower blooms before Jack came to call too. They looked nice in the background when I snapped this picture of the peppers and pepper relish that I canned over the weekend.

I think the lack of blooming plants is what I dislike most about winter. That and being cold, I hate to be cold.

The closest little town near where I live has been in the news again lately. The last time was when the idiot mayor released the stray pups into the National Forrest, remember that? This time it appears we had a real, live, skinhead with possible terrorist traits living there. It's not bad enough to be one of the poorest areas in the U.S., we have to be known for breeding such trash as this.

Dirty Politics

I don't know who's going to win this Presidential election, but I know who's been winning the mud slinging contest going on in my email.

It's those "publicans.

Man, if I was Obama, and I did win the Presidency, I'd be surrounding myself with several linebackers and defensive ends; forget the secret service! Those 'publicans are gettin' down right nasty right there in my Inbox. It's gotten so bad that I have my nice 'n clean Electronic Cleaning Wipes handy each time I log on so I can clean off the barf and BS.

And you know? There hasn't be a'one that was bashing McCain.

Does someone know something I don't?

Maybe I don't want to know.

Anyhow, the way I see it, they're wasting their time here. And mine. I'm equally disgusted with the the whole lot of them uppiddy politicans.

(did I spell that right?)

Monday Wake UP

I found out just how nippy it was outside just a few minutes ago. I had to go out and move my truck up a bit in the driveway to be sure the school bus would have room to pull in. There was a great song just starting on the radio so I left the truck running and stood beside it and danced while the kids laughed their hinnies off at the crazy, sleep deprived, Nanaw.

Before sunrise, in 39 degrees breeziness, wearing sleep shorts and a short robe, dancing to Pink Floyd; a great way to start a Monday.

Another plus for living in the country, neighbors would have been instantly blinded.

School Girl and Halloween

Tomorrow is a big day, our Jilly Beans is going to start pre-K! They had an opening so they called Jerri about it, all the paperwork was completed so the Beans is a school girl now. Nanaw is sort of torn between being happy for her and being sad because she's our baby and everyone knows that going to school is the beginning of the end of babyhood.

We took the little monsters, and the Great American Parrot, below to the Boo Fest that the Heritage Trail State Park had for the children here in our county. They had a load of fun in the haunted house and on the haunted trail. I don't think it scared the Beans much at all, but Zach and Alexis got nervous once or twice. PopPop, Jerri, and Bubbie went along with them but Nanaw gave out after standing in line for almost an hour so I sat at a picnic table and waited for them.



I've been busy this afternoon making a list of things to gather up this week for a Halloween weenie roast for the kiddies on Friday night. Trick-or-treating has been making me more and more nervous. The nearest town of any size has been having such an increase in shootings and robberies over the past year that I just don't feel it's safe to take our kids in some of the neighborhoods after dark. Zach decided last year that he was too old to trick-or-treat and he and the other kids love to get together and have time to play, so we think a little party will make everyone happy.

PopPop and Zach went down to the barn and dragged home an old tractor hub for us to build a little bon-fire in, and they went somewhere and cut us a small stack of dry wood. Jerri is bringing some hot dog sticks that her father made when she was a kid. I think the menu will be hot dogs, chips and dip, and smores. I haven't decided for sure if I'll get apple cider and juice, or if I'll make a punch. I've put some flashlights on the list in case the fire doesn't put out enough light for them. I'll also make each of them a Halloween goodie bag. We'll have to set parimeters because there are acres and acres for them to roam out here, maybe we won't lose any of the children. :-)

I just looked at the weather forecast and they're saying we're in for a frost tomorrow night. Guess I'll be out in the garden tomorrow gathering those tomatoes!

Limping Thoughts

I've figured it out, I could buy 5000 pairs of comfortable pajamas for what Sarah Darlin' spent on clothes using public donation funds in a 6 week period.

If Obama becomes president, will his wife be the tallest First Lady to ever live in the White House?

What happens to left over campaign contributions? Will they share the wealth?

How many shopping days till Christmas?

My feet are cold, Fall must have officially arrived here.

If you tape a bird's mouth shut, will he still be able to breath?