Looking Back on June

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Details Pending

I'm trying to wait until Zach is in the mood to tell me about his trip.

The child is hardly ever excited about stuff after the fact; "I did it, it was fun, now what else is there to do?" His excitement, any that might show, is all beforehand and most of that is nervous excitement that comes across to me as being as grumpy as a troll.

I stayed up all night, with the exception of an hour nap, so that I would be sure to get him to school at 3:30 A.M. yesterday. He was upset because his camera didn't charge and he wasn't able to take it so that turned him into a monster troll all the way up till the time I dropped him off.

When I picked him up last night at 11, he was grumpy because they'd been riding on a school bus for more than 8 hours that day so he didn't want to talk about what they'd done at the Space Center just yet.

This morning he's still dozing off and on.

I'm impatient.

Oh well.

Dilema

Zach has a field trip tomorrow. He has to be at the school at 3:30 A.M. because they're going to Huntsville, Alabama to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center. They're supposed to arrive back home at 11:00 P.M. tomorrow night.

James is my alarm because he's always up at the crack of dawn. but dawn doesn't crack around here that early. And I don't usually hear an alarm unless I'm sleeping right on top of it. So, should I set an alarm and trust that I'll wake up, or should I just stay up, get him to the school, then come home and crash? I don't have any kids tomorrow so I can sleep later.

I'm tired enough to go to sleep right now.

Country Morning

I was awake before 7 this morning because of all of the buzzing and zipping of the fella below. He has to be out when the sun comes up to take advantage of windless conditions to spray the crops, but I don't mind too much. Early morning wake ups are not a huge price to pay for the privilege of owning our little spot in the country. Even the endless dust doesn't matter so much when I compare it to living in a town in these parts.


I snapped this shot of the crop duster as I was coming back from taking Abby to school earlier. It was barely 8:30 a.m. and already 89 degrees; it's gonna be another hot day here in the Mississippi River delta.

Soon after I got back home I cut up some okra that a friend sent over yesterday. He was fortunate enough to get his garden planted in between the April and May rains, so his is producing cucumbers, peppers, and okra already. This will taste mighty fine at supper one night this week. We've gotten some squash and potatoes from our garden so far and I'm watching and yearning for the first ripe tomato but that will be awhile longer I think.

Time to go do a few chores, give my back a break, and do a few more, and the Beans and Alexis may come by to play today.

Better check the popsicle supply.

Photo Challenge - Macro

It's that time again and Miz Janice was kind enough to give us the Macro prompt for this photo challenge. Many thanks to her cause I always have fun with the macro setting on my camera. Y'all be sure to click the comments entries at the Brenda Photo Challenge Blog to see all the other wonderful macro challengers!

Here are my macros; each taken with camera hand held since I've been too lazy to drag out the tripod in this heat. You can click each one to get the full macro view if you'd like.

An up close shot of my rose moss. This is a tiny little moss plant that has the most glorious colored blooms.

Rose of Sharon porno. It's much prettier with the macro setting off. :-)

Can't leave out a macro of one of the most beloved critters around here. I share hoppy shots a lot.

Macro can even make these little bitterweeds look lovely and regal. They smell horrible so I'm not sure what Mr. fly is so attracted to.

Miz Lynn's Black & White Challenge a Day Early

I accepted this black & white challenge from Miz Lynn over at Musings from Texas Hill Country as well as accepting our own Brenda Photo Challenge. Turns out the challenge dates are the same so this was the only way I could think of to do them both. Can't you just hear this Momma Martin saying, "Y'all better lay down and go to sleep, don't make me come back in there!"

Here's a picture of a sleepy puppy. He barely opened his eyes to acknowledge this crazy lady with a camera bending over him. Go on over to Miz Lynn's for links to other Black & White challenge participates.

Playing with Photos

I've been playing around with a couple of fun photo doodling programs, Loonapix and Photo505. They're loads of fun.

Movies at Home

I wonder if I could get a job critiquing animated movies? How many times does one have to watch a movie before being considered an expert at critiquing?

Tinkerbell and Over The Hedge *****

Storms and a Date With Beans

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Zach had another field trip with his group today and they were 2 hours late coming home. I sat in the school parking lot, in my pickup, in my pjs, in the heat and humidity, and watched the western sky get darker and darker.

The bus finally pulled in and as soon as the terrorist got into the truck we high-tailed it toward home. We made good time on the 3 miles of highway but severe thunderstorm warnings and tornado warning announcements on the radio were pushing us to move a bit faster. I had that old black Ford pickup throwing up dust at 50 mph on the gravel roads leading to our house.

Zach saw these clouds, the dark one at the top was west of us, the red cloud in the second picture was to our north, and he was freaking out, "Go faster Nanaw, please go faster!" I kept my speed but I knew the wheat field fires west and north of us were causing the clouds to look a whole lot worse than they were. I did want to get home before the wind and rain though, the warnings were saying 75 mph winds and possible hail in the storm.

We made it home just as some of those gusty 75 mph winds and the rain hit. I think it was a gust that blew my big butt through the front door after I finally wrestled it open.

It blew awhile, rained awhile longer, but it wasn't so bad here. I might have to go hunt up my lawn chairs again but I'm used to that.

Jami took the pictures above with her cell phone about 5 minutes or so before we arrived home. The clouds looked even more ominous when we got there.

After the storming stuff was over and everyone left except for the Beans and I, we drove to West Helena and had dinner at the August Moon. Beans had fried rice and stuffed fried won tons, and Nanaw had Kung Pao chicken. We had a good time together and enjoyed every bite.

Then we went to Wal mart where we bought the Tinker Bell movie and ice cream. Then Beans found a few more things to add to the basket before we checked out. We hurried home to watch Tink and eat vanilla ice cream with chocolate sauce and cherries on top. Now Beans is snoozing and Nanaw is going to be joining her real soon.

I hope everyone had as fine an adventure as we did!

That's It, I'm Insane!

I was awakened by shrill arguing this morning as 3 little girls came tumbling through the door; My day had started.

"She spit in my shoe!"

"Who's spitting?"

"Not me!" "Not me!"

"Who???"

"I'm not lying, I didn't do it."
"It wasn't me, I didn't spit, that's nasty!"

Since I was the only other animal with spitting capabilities in the house, it must have been me. I'm having black-outs and spitting in kid's flip-flops now.

"She's hogging all the colors."
"He won't let me use the colored pencils."
"I want that color, give it here."
"She won't leave me alone!"
"He's bothering me."

They wanted me to print them some coloring pages so I spent 20 minutes or so searching and then printing a page for each to color. Within 15 minutes the argument above started so I grabbed the pages and threw them in the trash. Then I made them put up the 1,199 crayons and colored pencils they had strew around.

"She's staring at me!"
"Make her stop looking at me!"

"How do you know she's staring and looking at you, are you looking at her?"

"Yes."

"Holy SHIT! Stop looking at her and you won't be able to see her staring at you!"

THAT conversation occurs every time we are in the truck going somewhere.

"Can we play cards?"
"Can you play without fighting and bickering?"
"Yes."

2 minutes later (I swear, they hadn't finished dealing out the cards yet!)

"She's cheating!"
"She didn't let me have my turn."
"That's not fair!!"

"You haven't even started playing yet!! PUT THE CARDS AWAY!! GO OUTSIDE AND DUKE IT OUT!! DON'T COME BACK IN UNTIL ONE OF YOU IS BLEEDING! I'VE HAD ENOUGH!!"

Photo Challenge - Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder.

It's time for a new photo challenge! Miz Karen has chosen "Beauty" for our prompt this time and we sure appreciate it!

Beauty is sleeping puppies, (although one of them isn't sleeping). The other 6 were sprawled in a pile of heads and tails. This was the sweetest shot.

This is beauty to our Beans cause that child loves hoppies. For her only one thing is more beautiful than this baby bull frog,,,,

,,,,that would be TWO baby bull frogs. These largest of this pair was only an inch long.

My first moss rose bloom of the year. I love these tiny little flowers so the flower boxes on the deck are full of them.


Don't forget to hop over to see all of the other wonderful challengers in the comments at the Brenda Photo Blog.

Kool-Aid, Kool-Aid, Tastes Great!!

Zach is in Little Rock with the Gear Up group enjoying a field day, but I'm not lonely.

Manwiches and chips were eaten, Kool-aid sipped and slurped, and now 5 little girls are eating strawberry fruit coolers while watching a spider/cock roach/monster movie.

Nanaw's Homemade

I sliced some Vermont white cheddar cheese,

Sliced my thumb and cleaned up the blood,

Sliced a bit of American cheese,

Cut up some all beef bologna in little cracker sized squares,

Then I put some saltines and Ritz crackers on the table,

I also added some Doritos and Lays.

The girls came to the table for their lunch and MeriKate said,

"Hey, Nanaw made homemade lunchables!"

Krysten said around a mouth full of crackers,

"Yeah, and it tastes just like them too!"

I'll have to think of some more "homemade" goodies for tomorrow. Hahahahahaha.

I'm Still Kickin'!

Mostly kicking and screaming but that's just what my cousin calls "lettin' the Willhite out". That side of my family does tend to have temper explosions when they get riled up.

I just need to get a routine going for this month because I have Zach's sisters daily during the week for the summer, Zach has the Gear Up program every afternoon from 2 till 5 at the school (except for Fridays when they have field trips), also on Tuesdays and Thursday evenings he has Tae Kwon Do from 5:30 till 6:30 which is 20 miles away at the college. Abby will also start a 12 day summer program next week from 8:30 till 2, so I'll be picking her up at school as I take Zach.

I might just be meeting myself going if I'm not careful.

At least all that will be over by the end of the month, then maybe we can go fishing a time or two.

I'm having a lot of problems with edema already this summer. The problem exisits all year round but it seems worse during the hot months. My back consistantly gives me fits too so I've been doing a fair bit of bitching, and moaning, and groaning, lately. Add to that the fact that I haven't had a smoke IN 5 DAYS and it's no wonder that James asked me if I needed hormones or something?

Why do men think a hormone pill will fix the aggravations caused by themselves?

So there you have it, the news from around here. It ain't exciting. It ain't pretty. It's just the same ol everything. Hope the week is going good for all y'all!

Friday!

I love Garfield. He's one wise Kitty.

Graduating Classes of 2015 and 2021

This is just a few of the graduating 6th graders (I think there were 56). They looked so grown up and were minding their manners through it all.

This is only a few of Alexis' (aka the Chick) kindergarten graduating class. They all showed their best sides and really put on some great performances for us.

Alexis accepting her diploma.

Zachary accepting his diploma. (thank the heavens!)

I'm wondering if I'll still be alive to see these younguns graduate from high school. I've spent at least a couple of hours over the past two days sitting on the most uncomfortable bleachers in the world, and several hours in the truck going here and yonder for one reason or another. My butt is tired. But,,,,SCHOOL'S OUT FOR SUMMER!!!!!!!

Exceptin' for the June Gear Up program, and Tae Kwon Do, we're near 'bout free!

I Need a Boost

Some days have been hectic around here. The Chick was sick enough for an overnight stay in the hospital last Thursday. Another round of tummy trouble; I sure wish that bug would quite bouncing around here. Beans didn't come for the day but came and spent Thursday night and much of the day Friday with us.

Saturday Alexis, MeriKate, and the Beans stayed with us while Bubbie and Jerri went shopping in Memphis. PopPop took them for a ride on the 4-wheeler and found them a snacks of wild dew berries. Three little girls came home full and happy with purple lips and hands.

That's about all that's been going on around here. My energy is lagging and I don't want to leave the house much but that will change next week when the house is full of kids every day.

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Memorial Day

Photo Challenge - Doorways

Thank you for the wonderful prompt for this challenge Miz Annie!

My first doorway is on that old barn that sits out in the field behind our house. I think it was built back in the 1940's or 50's and it's still standing, barely. I love old barns.

I snapped a couple of shots of this doorway because I notice the reflections in it every time I drive out of Helena heading west. It wasn't until I took this photo that I noticed that something must have happened here recently. That looks like some sort of patch on the bottom of the door.

This is the doorway leading to the entrance hall of the Pillow-Thompson House in Helena, AR. It was built by a well-to-do family who's ancestors donated it to the PCCC of the University of Arkansas in the 90's. There are quite a few old southern homes in Helena.
This view of the doorway leading into Estevan Hall, another historical home in Helena, is kind of spoiled by location of the camp chairs. Estevan was built in the 1826 and was occupied by the U.S. Army during the Civil War.

I think this used to be an old school building. I thought the steps that lead to a darkened doorway was interesting. I'll have to find out for sure what this building was.

This doorway leads into St. Marys Catholic Church in Helena, AR which was built in 1936. I think of all the doorways that I've seen in my life, church doorways are my favorites.

Please go to our Brenda Photo Challenge Blog and click on the comments to see all of the other wonderful "doorways" for this challenge.

Beans Starts With "B"

Beans as she runs to stand in front of the CSI rerun, "Nanaw! Is Crap a bad word?"

Nanaw, as she's trying to look through and around the little body in front of the TV, " I don't think so,,,not really."

Beans, in a sing-song voice, "Ok, Crap, Crap", as she prances and dances back over to where she and Zach are building with legos.

"And it starts with a K, don't it Nanaw?"

******

Don't forget the photo challenge tomorrow! Miz Annie was kind enough to chose our challenge prompt this time.