One Person's Treasures

Our house is sometimes full of grandchildren so it's pretty normal for it to also be full of treasures.  Sometimes these treasures are things they bring from home to give to us for special occasions, or just because they love us, and sometimes the treasures are found in the yard, or on a walk or ride around the rural area that surrounds us.  But no matter their source, there are always true and wonderful treasures to be found and shared around here.

I thought of the topic for this post when I was washing my face in the bathroom last night.  There on the edge of the sink was a little rocky treasure that one of the kids had found and decided that it needed keepin.  To one not used to such treasures it might be seen as just an old rock, but we know better in this house.

Abby is probably our most serious treasure finder, in  fact we see a great American Picker in the making with this child.  Her momma said she tours the neighborhood just before trash pick-up day to see if anyone is throwing away any "treasures" just so she can rescue them.

Mr. Duck, above, was rescued back in the Spring.  Never mind that he has a little road rash here and there, he looks like a duck and stands like a duck so he was worthy of treasuredom.

Abby came in with this little container earlier this month.  The top comes off and there's room inside for lots of tiny treasures that are out there, just waiting to be found.

I look at the home making magazines and give a thought sometimes that this design looks lovely, or that design looks grand, but I don't think I'd trade our treasure trove of decorators with their special decorations for the world.

I'm a photo challenge Ding-Dong!

I posted my challenge shots in the wrong blog.  So, mine are back at the challenge blog.


I'll try to do better.

Photo Challenge: ABC's

Can you find the letter I made with my green beans?

I love the shaky but impressive handwriting of our little ones as they first learn to print.  Beans wrote this 2 or 3 years ago.

These banners are on the street lights on Cherry Street in Helena, AR.  They could stand for Helena, or Historic Helena,,,not sure really but I love the old English look of them.

These letters are what's left of a sign that was once painted on the side of an old brick building in Helena. 

I spent a lot of time searching for this one and I made one letter.  I can't wait to see what everyone came up with.  Don't forget to stop by our Photo Challenge blog, scroll down and click on the links to see all the other participants.

No Excuses,,,except

Alexis (sittin' on the purple cube) performing in the Once Upon a Time musical put on my their Summer of the Arts program.  She did a splendid job, as did all of those little cuties.

Zach spent a week in Tennessee with his Mom. This is the only picture she sent of his activities.

Here's Jaylen with one of her softball trophies.  This young lady is a great fast pitcher.

Jordan with her team won their 12 and under girls softball  State Championship and are now down in Panama City at the 12 and Under Softball World Series. GO Arkansas OutKast!

Jilly Beans had a birthday. Can you believe she's 6 already?
 

We had one good rain early this month.

I'll post some pics of our other monkeys as soon as I get some more recent ones.

Things I've found that irritate me this week.

1. Droopy Drawers.  Pull up yer pants fellas,,,geez!

Sagging pants was never meant to be fashionable. Prisoners wear their pants this low because belts are a popular way to commit suicide by hanging oneself, to hang others, or to use as a weapon in fights. Prisoners are also not allowed to have shoestrings for the same reasons. But there is an even more obvious reason why pants are sagging in prison. If the pants are below a man's bottom, it is to introduce to other men that he is homosexual. As Eazy E once said about women in skirts, "For easy access, baby."

I looked over and saw this while waiting to get a drink at the McDonald's drive-thru the other day. Ewww, ewwww, just ewww!

2. The incorrect usage of the word "twins".

One of  Zach's teachers mentioned her "two, twin, stepdaughters" or
Referring to twins as a pair of twins.

TWIN: either of two offspring produced at a birth or one of two persons or things closely related to or resembling each other.

consisting of two, twofold, double.

The teacher should only have mentioned she had twin step-daughters because the word twin takes care of the two part.  It's the same with pair because pair also means two.  Does that make any sense?

3. Casey Anthony.

Need I mention more?

Photo Challenge: God Bless America

God Bless America for being able to celebrate 235 years of Freedom...,,,,

,,,,,for sunsets,,,,,

,,,,,and for rainbows,,,,,,,

Our home, sweet, home.

Photo Challenge : Playing

It's that time again Ladies and Gents.  I can't wait to see all the imaginative shots!  Anyway, here are mine.,,,

I think the Mississippi river delta mud baths make our babies such cuties.

So, they're out on Spring Break and playing school.  A vienne weenie snack too.

Scuffling and shuffling on the river walk.


I had this scheduled to post at 12:05 A.M. this morning.  Dang Blogger!

Limping Along

May was a bad month for a whole heap of folks living along the Mississippi River and his tributaries.   I've seen water, DEEP water, where I've never seen water in all the years that I've lived off and on in the delta.  Our county was given disaster status due to the storms and floods during May.  Most of the damage done was to farm land that was ready to be planted or had already been planted.  There were also a few places in our county where flood waters got into people's homes as well as some road closures.  

There were roads closed near many of the tributaries that eventually emptied into the Mississippi River, but couldn't because Old Man River was way over flood stage.  In Memphis, the river was only 1/10 of an inch away from the record flooding of 1937.

This is a field.  It looked like a huge lake, it seemed to go on forever.

Another field and a flooded house in Lee county, AR

I was surprised to learn about the huge line of cars and people to be found at the Department of Human Services in Helena-West Helena, awaiting their turn at a portion of the food allowances being doled out for families affected by the disasters. The few houses damaged by storms or flood surely didn't come to the number that showed up for aid.  A friend stopped on the road and asked one lady where she lived and how bad was the damage to her property and the lady replied, "It didn't get hurt, but you don't have to have damage to qualify for the free food allowance."  What?????????

This guy and the one below built levees around their houses to keep the flooded creek from getting into their houses.

Weird storm clouds.

It seems that bad luck and bad weather sure seems to bring out the greedy and ugly in some folks.  I just don't understand it.

Photo Challenge: May Flowers

A vibrant and pretty little wild flower.

Wild little primrose.

Another little wild flower growing beside the road.

One of our South's lovely  Magnolia blossoms.

Pretty lilies.  I used a texture filter that I found in Paint Shop Pro Photo X2

These are my photos for the May Flowers Photo Challenge.  I hope you enjoyed them and will take the time to go to our Photo Challenge Blog to click the links so you can enjoy all the other challengers.

Photo Challenge : Repeating Patterns

I almost forgot this because I forgot it was Friday and I forgot that it was the 29th.  Now that I've come to my senses I realize that it's time for another Photo Challenge so I'd best get these up.  Please hop on over to our Challenge blog and click on the links of other wonderful challengers.

I sure hope I'm making sense.  I've been up since 3:30 this a.m. cause I wanted to see Will and Kate's wedding.

I love the pretty blue color of these treated soybean seeds.  Makes a nice repeating pattern too, doesn't it?

Repeating polka dots on a beach towel.  Two of my favorites, polka dots and bright colors.

 

This is a familiar repeating pattern around here.  Row after row of one crop or another.

The dots on the killdeer eggs make a distinctive repeating pattern.

This was another fun challenge. Can't wait to see all the other challenger's work.

Photo Challenge : Spring Easy

Time to shine again with our challenge photos.  I've been sneaking out here and there and taking a few when I could.  Be sure to click over to our challenge blog to see all the wonderful shots that everyone came up with.

Wisteria

 

 

 

 

Our friendly Purple Martins are back!

Yeah, I'm cute.

A pic from a past Spring.  I love this shot of the stinky little weed.

Yankton Press & Dakotan Opinion Editorials Raising Taxes On The Rich

Yankton Press & Dakotan Opinion Editorials Raising Taxes On The Rich

The Amazing Human Body

It takes your food seven seconds to get from your mouth to your stomach.

One human hair can support 6.6 #.

The average man's penis is two times the length of his thumb.

Human thighbones are stronger than concrete.

A woman's heart beats faster than a man's.

There are about one trillion bacteria on each of your feet.

Women blink twice as often as men.

The average person's skin weighs twice as much as the brain.

Your body uses 300 muscles to balance itself when you are standing still.

If saliva cannot dissolve something, you cannot taste it.

Women will be finished reading this by now.


Men are still busy checking their thumbs.

Photo Challenge: Before & After

It's time for a new Challenge!  Miz Donna chose Before & After as our challenge topic for this round and I took a time out the other day and worked a little "after" magic on some pictures. Normally I pre-schedule my challenge posts but the past two challenges this didn't work, so I'm posting this evening because early tomorrow will find us on our way to Greenwood, MS to Zach's tae kwon do tournament.

Please hop over to our Challenge blog to view all the other delightful entries!

China berries from the camera.

China berries edge enhanced.

Schubach barn from the camera.

Barn with tinfoil texture added.

I'm going to play some more with these textures and filters soon.  Can't wait to  see what everyone else does.

Photo Challenge : Red

It's time to be challenging with our cameras again ladies and gents.  I've been lazy busy so I only got a couple of recent shots but some others, not so recent, that I think are worthy of sharing.  Be sure to click on over to our challenge blog to see all of the delightful entrants for this Red challenge.

My sister, Paula, built this birdhouse for me.

A trinket one of the girls left laying around.  I used a texture filter from Paint Shop Pro on this shot.

This is one of my flashy red shoes,,,never worn.

A rose  bloom from last summer

Can't wait to go round and visit all the other challengers! Be seeing you there!

I Keep Forgetting!!

I did it again,  I let my blogaversary pass right on by with nary a thought again this, the 8th year!  I should remember it cause it shares a date with the Chick's birthday (aka Alexis), but I guess the excitement of a birth  wipes it from my mind.

Anyway, I thought I'd look back on my first year of blogging by posting a few of the entries from back then.

 How Women Really Think

Skinny people tick me off! Especially when they say things like,
'You know, sometimes I forget to eat. You have to be a special
kind of stupid to forget to eat.

A friend of mine confused her Valium with her birth control pills.
She had 14 kids, but she doesn't care.

The trouble with some women is that they get all excited about
nothing (and then they marry him).

I read this article that said the typical symptoms of stress are
eating too much, smoking too much, impulse buying and driving too
fast. Are they kidding? That's my idea of a perfect day.

I know what Victoria's Secret is. The secret is that nobody older
than 20 can fit into their stuff.

Here is a Great reason to Smile:
Every 7 minutes of every day,
someone in an aerobics class pulls a hamstring.

My mind not only wanders, it sometimes leaves completely.

The best way to forget all your troubles is to wear tight shoes.

Sometimes I think I understand everything, then I regain
consciousness.

Amazing! You hang something in your closet for a while...
and it shrinks two or three sizes!

If you love something, set it free.
If it comes back, it will always be yours.
If it doesn't come back, it was never yours to begin with.
But, if it just sits in your living room, messes up your stuff,
eats your food, uses your telephone, takes your money,
and doesn't appear to realize that you had set it free...
You either married it or gave birth to it.

Look at how little Zach and Jordan were back then!