Oh Where Does Time Go?

I have realized that if I was still in education my summer would almost be over, and I have not written a post since school got out. So where has my summer gone?
June - the races, VBS, and a ladies' trip to Nashville
July - the fourth of July with the kids, fireworks, and a trip to Colorado
Time with Anja
Sunday meals with family and grandkids
Quilting

A few of the Tennessee highlights are - Grand Old Opry, The Ryman, Fontanel, RCA studio tour, the symphony, Andrew Jackson's Hermitage tour, the late night shuttle bus ride with the mystery woman from Nashville, and the city tour of Memphis.

The Fourth was a blast, figurative and literally. Davis & Miller sold out all the fireworks, so we had to close the north stand before the Fourth, We got to have time with the kids and their friends and family. It was great to see Chad and Tara, even though it did not seem like we had near enough time with them. Davis & Miller did all three city fireworks show on the Fourth. 2015 firework season went down in history as very successful.

Our trip to Colorado was different than we anticipated. The main purpose of the trip was to take our ATV and Diana's to Ouray to meet up with a group of people to ride three days in the mountains. Rick and I went by the way of the New Mexico cabin. We spent time there then went on to Ouray. The day we rode I referred to as the "Trip from Hades" several times. It was one calamity after another. A few to mention are - no trailer brakes (on the Million Dollar highway), a dead battery on the trailer, smoke coming out the ATV when we started it, the check engine light on the ATV, the wrong key, two trips to Montrose, etc...We were up close and personal to the mountain - 12,000 feet elevation. At 9:30 PM after the second trip to Montrose, I said no more riding for me. Rick was the one cheated, but he was such a trooper.

We went back to the cabin, my safe, happy place. We hired a fishing guide, that took us trout fishing on Eagle Nest lake. After this we fished the streams and rivers, since we already had our licenses. We were successful. In fact, we cooked trout for dinner back at the cabin. We went out after dinner and found the elk.

We did get to see a lot of beautiful country as we drove 1700 miles on our trip through New Mexico and Colorado.

Anja 

As I reflect on my June and July, I am constantly reminded how blessed I am with family and friends that I love. Thank you, Jesus, for blessing me so richly.

This is the day, This is the day,....

This is the day,
This is the day
That we waited for....

This is the song that I woke my boys up to the last day of school their entire school career. One of the boys called me on my last day of teaching and sang it back to me.

Today is the end of another school year, and I need to brag on the grandchildren. I am always posting or talking about going to their sporting events, because they are so involved in all the sports; but today I need to brag on their academics. All five that are of school age made the A honor roll. The three youngest did not have a B on their report cards all year long. In Gunter we call this the Principal's Honor Roll. Plus there is another fact that made this grandmother/teacher smile - the four kids, 1st, 3rd, 7th, and 9th grade, all had PERFECT attendance this school year - this means they never missed a day of school.

This is the day that "they" waited for... School is out for a couple of months.

Reblooming Easter Lilies

As Diana says, I am a "wanna-be" gardener. I try all kinds of flowers in my flower beds. Last year I took my Easter lily that the kids gave me after the flowers fell off and planted the green part in one of my flower beds. During the floods last week I noticed that they looked like they were going to bloom. Yesterday they all popped open. What a special treat after the floods.

Grandparents Weekend

We had a busy weekend with the grandkids. We got Anja late Thursday afternoon to stay with us until  Sunday, while her parents attended Sam Holden's wedding. Thursday night we went to Cali's first grade play where she was a "Hobo" spider. Friday we went with Josh and Brandy to the Gunter Tigers playoff baseball game in Kennedale. Zach got moved up for the play off games. Anja did great. Brandi helped bounce her during the game. Saturday Mindi and Cali joined us, as we all went back to Kennedale for another baseball game. Anja was great again. We then all went out to eat for Josh and Brandi's wedding anniversary. Sunday was church and our normal family meal.

Game 1 with Dawn and Bill

Game 2

Sunday lunch at Andrea's with Aunt Di

Memorial Day Weekend 2015

Row, Row, Row your Boat.....or Water, Water, Everywhere...

That could be our theme song or our slogan. Not because we are on a lake, but because we have been flooded with rain for the past 13 weeks. We are officially SOAKED!

Rick and I did go on a road trip to Natchitoches, Louisiana, Friday after he got off work. We drove to Shreveport and spent the night. (We did not go a casino.) We got up and drove to our destination. It is a quaint town on a river, with very much the feeling of New Orleans. We strolled the historic district, went to the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame, found some to the spots that Steel Magnolia was filmed, toured two plantations, drove around the country side, and then drove back to Gunter in a flood.

Sunday, after church we tried to go to the water going over the Lake Texoma spillway with thousands of other people. We settled on the floodgates, and we will go when it is less crowded. This is the fourth time (1957, 1990, 2007, and now). Sunday is also the day that I am officially married to a "senior citizen". It is Rick's birthday. We did have several meals for him this weekend.

On Monday, we did make it to the spillway and drove some of the other roads around to see the water. We then went to Brandi's for a fish fry with his girls. This was a great ending for a holiday weekend.

Denison Dam 2015

Satchmo Bodine You Kritter Kritter You (the Third or Fourth) 2000 -2015

Today I am having to put our cat of 15 years to sleep. She was given to Chad by a friend for his 15th birthday in 2000. We gave all our cats the same name, going back to 1990 when we had a kitten at that time and had put her name on the yard Christmas ornament. Carl, a trumpet player, named the first cat Satchmo, after Louis Armstrong, a trumpet player.
    This Satchmo was the only one that got to live in the house, and the only one that survived more than a year or two. She was totally Chad's until he left for college in the fall of 2004; so then she became my little companion. She would sit with me, lay on my chest, and follow me around. When I got up in the mornings, she has followed me to the bathroom all these years while I would put on my makeup and dress. Even this last week as sick as she was, she made it into the bathroom for this morning ritual.
     She has survived several dogs - one she tolerated (Missy), one she hated (Kayah), and one she loved (Abby). She and Abby had a very unusual cat-dog relationship. They would wrap legs around each other and lick each other. She has given Abby many baths and would lick ice cream and other food off her face. Abby is going to miss her greatly. All you had to say is "where is the kitty cat?" and she would run find Satchmo and start licking her.

Abby and Satchmo

    Other than Chad and I, the rest of the family was not a fan of Satchmo. She did cause major allergy troubles with Greg and Diana. They both suffered through the years because of her, if they did not take their allergy medicine before coming here. Jerry would call her "Spook". Rickie is not a cat person either, so he gave her fits. Satchmo seemed to sense this and would get in his way or just lay in front of his stove. Satchmo would want to sleep on the bed with us; but she purred too loud, which agitated Rick. He would swat her off the bed. If she was in the floor purring too loud, he would throw pillows at her. Abby also did not like her sleeping closer to me that Abby was.
   I will miss Satchmo. She was so faithful to wait for me in the game room while I was gone. When I would go on a trip, I could always count on her sleeping next to me for several nights when I would come home. She loved the Christmas tree and the lights. During the entire month of December, you would find her under the tree. She ate breakfast with me, if Rick was not home or in the kitchen.
  Satchmo, I am sorry if I kept you alive too long this last week. I know that you were very sick and barely hanging on.  I was selfish, because I was not ready to give you up. You will be missed. Thanks for the companionship and memories.

A Weekend of Grandparenting

Friday morning I got to go to Frisco to pick up Anja to spend the night with us and stay with us while her parents go out of town. I then picked up Diana and Jerry to go cemetery hopping to Indian Creek. While there I nailed down my Henderson genealogy back to John Henderson. I took a picture of his tombstone with Anja - 8 generations in Grayson County. We also visited Tioga cemetery. There are 7 generations with her in Grayson County of Scoggins.

Indian Creek - 8 Generations

We kept her busy the entire time doing our normal weekend routine. She got to spray mesquite trees out at the farm and go to a concert in the park in Gunter on Saturday.

Concert in the Park - Gunter

Sunday was the other grandkids day. We had Cali at church, then we went to her basketball game in Frisco, then we went to Cade's baseball game in Plano. It was a great weekend even though we did not get to have our weekly Sunday night family meal.


Sports pictures coming soon!

Let's Go Racing - Nascar

This past weekend is what we refer to as our "redneck" weekend. We took our camper down on Wednesday, but came back to Gunter so Rick could work on Thursday and I could help at the church for Tex's meal and attend his funeral. We then went back on Thursday after Rick got off work. Diana and Rick went on Monday, which she had been sick in bed most of the week. First she had stomach issues; then they changed to upper respiratory and laryngitis. Roger and Tom had arrived on Tuesday. Diana and Rick went to Keller to meet Jenna and Jared for dinner and to bring Jenna to the races. She had given Diana a "gift" for helping them move last weekend. Hooray!!!

Our view from the suite!

Friday, Diana and Jenna came to Gunter to see Glory in a play and to pick up Jonah. We cooked our traditional big breakfast. Later Justin would join us, as well as, Teresa and Jared. Friday, we grilled chicken, stuffed jalapenos, and grilled vegetables for our meal. That night at the races, Rick and I got to enjoy the races from a suite, thanks to Fed-X.  This was an enjoyable experience.
Saturday we started the day with another big breakfast. Later in the day we had charcoal hamburgers and the fixins. The Saturday night race is the long race, but it was good and not too long. The pit stops kept it from getting boring. We did not get to witness any wrecks this weekend, which is always disappointing if there is not even one. I entertained myself during the Saturday night race with my big camera and the various setting on it. My guys were the winners which is also an added bonus.
We got up Sunday, packed up, and came home. Another great race week went down on the calendar.

Easter 2015 Highlights

Anja's First Easter

I started the Easter weekend off by writing a "to-do" list of the many things that Rick and I wanted to accomplish this holiday weekend, including both work and fun. Here are the highlights in no particular order, with a few other happenings thrown in.

• Bricks and dirt moved from the trees in the backyard.
• Farm and house pastures - raked and Bermuda grass seeds spread out, plus a few calves banded.
• Garden planted and yard mowed.
• Trees trimmed.
• Pipe fence finished and painted.
• Concert with Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, and Merle Haggard. (Even though they cannot sing very well, this was one of the best concerts we have attended.)
• Easter lunch with the family at Diana's.
• Church - morning worship and Easter Egg hunt and hot dog supper at church in the evening.
• Tex Heath passed away after a mysterious fire and Linda Rolison's father passed away.

As always, this Easter was no disappointment. Good Friday and Easter is always such a special day in my history. Good memories were made with those I love, as we celebrated our Risen Savior.

A Weekend with the ...COWS!

Friday night Rick and I left the house for our traditional Friday outing by the way of the farm. This is when it all started. A black cow was "down" in the mud with a new calf already on the ground. We knew what was ahead of us. We went back home, put on our mud clothes, and called the local vet, Doc. Watson at Bing's Vet Clinic. The vet came and gave her an IV and several shots.

He told us we need to get her up two or three times a day and out of the mud if she was going to make it. She has milk fever. We then went and got the tractor, a chain, and a sling. I just knew that we were going to break her neck, but we didn't. We drug her through the mud and water to the highest point of the pasture where there was some dry ground.

 Four hours later - muddy and tired - we went home without getting her up. It was dark, and we could not get the sling under her. She was totally worn out from being drug through the mud. Many prayers went up during this time for some divine intervention.

Saturday morning at day break we started again. We did get the sling under her, and the tractor did lift her up - uneven. Her front legs   came up, but the back ones dangled under her. We let her rest, while we went and got the rest of the cows the hay. After lunch, I went to a funeral and Danny helped Rick. They did get her up on all fours and the baby calf nursed. I missed Rick falling out of the back of the truck holding the baby calf as Danny drove through the pasture and mud. This was the first time that we had hope that the cow might make it. The vet came by just to check on the situation. He is a really good guy. Again many prayers were prayed.

Sunday morning, with "an ox in our ditch," we started the process all over of trying to get her up. The first task was to get the sling under her again. I "Googled" last night all the different ways to get a "downed" cow up. One was to suffocate the cow by holding you hands over her nose so she can't breath. This was my method with prayers. Rick's method was to make her mad by hitting her with the sling and prayers. She did raise up one time and tried to get us. Did I mention that she still has had a lot of fight and spunk in her through all of this? We did not get the sling under her. So we tried again. By the grace of God, the second time she stood up. Woobly as can be; she was standing by herself - not hooked to a tractor. We took special care of her and her calf the next four hours. During this time we had another cow have a calf. We left for a birthday party, then came back to feed the cows again. She was still standing. Another calf was born. We went home for our weekly Sunday night dinner with the family. At dusk we went back to the farm, where we had the third calf born.

The real test was going to be Monday. On Monday with four trips to the farm between Rick and I, she was standing every time. I think she is going to be a success story, and we are not going to have to bottle-feed another calf.

Building for the Glory of God

Spring Break 2015 - Danny Miller, Debbie Miller, Rick and I took two days to go build with the Volunteer Builders for Christ from FBC Allen. We went to Turner Falls to the Falls Creek Baptist encampment. We were plumbers on this trip, and I use the "we" very loosely. I was the gopher, although I did learn some new plumbing skills. It was great to get to go back to the area that was so special with great memories for so many of our Gunter teens through many years. As Rick and I walked around, I prayed for the many lives that were touched at Falls Creek that God might retouch lives and rekindle a relationship with many of those teens.
Many changes have been done at the encampment since I was last there five or six years ago. However, the cabin that was so special to us looked the same. It was just missing our kids.

The Gunter Cabin at Fall Creek

Arizona

I wrote about the plane rides to and from Arizona already, but not the trip itself. So here I will outline our annual spring break trip to somewhere. This year we started in Phoenix and made a circle through out the state. Our path and activities included:

Camel Back Mountain

Phoenix - Downtown Phoenix, St Mary's Basilica, Heritage Square,  Chase Field, Andrew Lloyd Wright's house and college
Camel Back Mountain

Montezuma Castle

Montezuma Cliff Dwellings and well
Rock Spring Pies

Cross of the Holy Chapel

Sedona - city Trolley tour, Cross of the Holy Chapel, and a Pink Jeep tour to see the red rocks up-close-and-personal

The Grand Canyon

Flagstaff - Route 66 signs and 10 inches of snow
The Grand Canyon - where we froze to death
Williams - Route 66  and the Cruisin' 66 diner

Cruisin" Route 66 Diner

Prescott - old west town with turn of the century homes and Granite Prescott Dell
Back to Phoenix - Wrigley museum and a drive by of the Biltmore Hotel

Three People I Met on a Plane

There is a book called "Three People you Meet in Heaven." Well this week on our girls' trip to Arizona, I met three people on airplanes that have touched my life in different ways. We flew Southwest so we had no assigned seat, the first plane was going to be completely full, and we were not the first to board so we had to split up and choose seats somewhere on the plane. I chose the first seat available - which was between two men. We ended up having a two-hour unscheduled layover because of weather and not enough fuel. I had ample opportunity to get to know these gentlemen on either side of me, since they were both very talkative and I can usually come up with a few words of my own. The man on my left was a 35 year old that was mildly "special" going to see his grandparents in Tuscon. The man on the right was a very wealthy man that this was his first "commercial" flight in years, since he and his family usually traveled in the Lear jet. He was going to Phoenix to practice his golf game, because he was going to Augusta to play in a tournament with his PGA golf friend on Friday. Even though he could name drop with the best, he was extremely humble and polite to the two of us. By the time we got to our destination, I felt like I had two new good friends. The story on the way on home is different. We had to come home to Texas from Arizona by the way of California. Again we split up on the plane, and I chose the first seat available next to a window. I did have to crawl over an older women, but I did not pay much attention to her. I just wanted to get out of he aisle into a seat. I was getting settled in a few minutes later when a young girl about 12 was going to also crawl over the older lady, but she stopped the girl and told her "Oh no, go find somewhere else to sit. There are going to be 50 empty seats on this plane." I was appalled, speechless, and shocked! This entire scene disturbed me, and I replayed it many times in my head. I had a hard time concentrating on the book I was reading, and I did refuse this woman any of my words. The girl did end up in a good seat with very desirable people a few rows behind us. However, I was still disturbed by this the next morning. It was not until in Sunday School that I realized I was just as bad as at the elderly "Jewish" behaving woman. Someone made the remark about WWJD in a situation in our lesson, and I was convicted that I did so wrong by not getting up to give the girl my seat. I hope that I will be a better person for meeting these three people.

Snow Day 2

We got another snow day, because the sleet and ice from yesterday did not melt. So today I finished the backs to my two "block-of-the-month" quilts from last year, I cooked a mushroom-spinach quiche for lunch for myself, I worked on my Alaska Shutterfly book from our vacation last year while watching photography videos on my iPad, and I read the manual for Rick's flight simulator game for his airplane game. It is amazing how I feel the need to be productive on snow days. I am now watching the weather which has a chance of snow in the forecast for tonight. Could we have three snow days?

Snow Day

Although this is my second year to be retired from teaching, I still get excited about a SNOW DAY. Last night I watched the weather and the school closings with four of the grandchildren in anticipation. Even during the night when I would wake up, I would listen for sleet. I am excited for all my teacher friends and grandchildren that this affects.

I have great memories of snow days in my early teaching days. Daddy would usually bring Diana and her kids to my house so that we could put the 4 children together; and she and I could sew, cook, or do a craft together. The kids would watch some movie classics - Top Gun or Beetlejuice, play Nintendo, or make paper airplanes to sell. I am sure that there were games of sock baseball or basketball also going on - maybe even a game with a ceiling fan. For some reason, all the ceiling fans wobble in my house. Oh, those were the days!

I now get to choose everyday what I am going to do, but today is an extra special day. So what did I do differently? I cleaned my kitchen granite counter tops, cooked, did laundry, wrote this post, and watched photography videos. Sounds familiar to my daily routines - but it was different. It was a SNOW DAY.

Kennith Marlow Scoggins

Last Sunday would have been his 95th birthday. However his life was cut short due to his health. It is so hard to believe that he has been gone 25 years. My dad was a very special person to me,  just like most dads are to their daughters.

He loved life; and everyone who knew him has a Kenneth story, whether it is a hunting story, a cow story, or just about meeting him. He never met a stranger. This month I went to my ob-gyn doctor who told me the story about when he came to Sherman in 1973 or 1974 as a young new doctor. He came to Gunter with my mom's doctor to bird hunt with my dad and how that memory of meeting and hunting with my dad has stayed with him all these years.

I think of Daddy often because I am so involved in our cow business. Rick and I have been bottle feeding a calf since December 1, who I have named Rudy. Through the rain, mud, wind and cold I always think that Daddy is smiling at Rudy and me during feeding time.

I also got my first 4 wheel drive pickup truck this month. I drive the hay wagon on feeding days. I have been stuck numerous times in the mud, and Rick always has to come to my rescue on the tractor to shove me out of the mud. I know Daddy and Rick are shaking their heads at me knowing that I should not have driven the path that I did in the pasture. However, when I got stuck on Tuesday of this week, I just punched the little 4-wheel drive button and drove myself out of the mud. I had to laugh knowing that Daddy was smiling again.

I hope that he gets a few smiles from the things we do, to repay him for the joy and happiness that he gave this girl for the first 33 years of her life. Thanks Daddy for teaching me to enjoy the simple things in life and to live life fully each day. Thanks for the memories.