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!