My Alien

I promised a cub that I would explain how my significant other got the nickname Alien. Its not that he doesn't have a green card or whatever it's just that he wears a space helmet. Well, I guess I should explain further.
If you have not experienced sleep apnea you are lucky. My Alien was doing all these weird things in his sleep. He would thrash around. Often during the night his body would jerk so hard it shook the bed. He would flail his arms (often times hitting me in the head). At this point, I decided he needed some help before he met an early demise. He went for the sleep apnea test and sure enough, he quits breathing several times during the night. When he quits breathing, the jerking and thrashing begin. Thus the need for the helmet. It has a hose hooked up to a machine and it makes him breathe.

Now to add to the drama, he now has to wear an arm brace at night because of carpal tunnel. Between my armored alien plus Casper establishing his territory, my sleep has been greatly impaired.
Oh well, with such a small number of marbles in the urn, I don't want to waste much time asleep.

Mountain Cabin-Second Verse

My education is continuing here at the mountain cabin. Laundry is a challenge. For you young whippersnappers that have never seen a scrub-board you have missed something and if you never used one, well, you are just deprived. Anyway, that is what I had to use to do the laundry until one day the Ranger (The Man) told me that I could use the wringer washer in the shower house after the guys all left for work. That was such exciting news that I immediately gathered the clothes and set out for the shower house the next morning.


The first load went fair, I did have a small problem when I started putting the clothes through the wringer. Forgot to move my hand and sure enough it went through with the towel. Didn't hurt too much though since the smart washer people figured there would be people like me so it had a release on it and the wringer popped open.

I put more clothes in the tub and was feeling pretty proud of myself for getting all the laundry done. Sure enough, another small problem. As I touched the machine, I got an electrical shock strong enough to rattle my teeth. When I looked for the plug to unplug it, I saw the cord running right up over the machine into a contraption hooked to the light bulb. That one took some thinking, I knew if I reached up to unplug I would be touching the tub.

I got a chair and sat down to do some serious thinking. When I saw the broom in the corner, I got the idea to use it to knock the plug out. Sure enough it worked so I wrung the clothes out and went home to my washboard.

There is a third verse that I will bore you with another day.

Mountain Cabin

When most of us picture a mountain cabin we see it nestled all alone in the middle of a forest. We see a vision of serenity and wonderment. We imagine in our minds a peace that passes all understanding. While all of this is true there is also the human element involved and that is what I touching on briefly today.

I moved to such a cabin in my early years as a newlywed. Most would say that I had led a very sheltered life up to that point. While we were in poverty straits as far as money is concerned, we were rich in experiences that followed in the dense forest.

This was a small one bedroom cabin. When I walked in the back door, I walked right into the kitchen. There sat this huge black square iron box. When I asked what it was, I was told it was the cook stove. My reply was, "where are the knobs to turn it on?" You guessed it, the answer was the axe in the back yard at the wood pile. I quickly learned to chop wood and am proud to say that I only chopped through the toe of one pair of shoes in the process.

Okay, on with the tour, when I entered the bathroom I expected to see a hot water heater since there had not been one in the kitchen. I saw the heater but it didn't seem to be fueled by anything. I was almost afraid to ask the next question, but being so inquisitive, I said, "How does it heat?" At that point, I was led back into the kitchen and shown the pipes running through the fire box of the huge black thing. I thought that was pretty clever of the male species, no cooking no hot baths. The best was yet to come for that huge black thing. I went out into the back yard to cut some fire wood and there sat a big bear. Just sitting there. I asked him to move and he still just sat there. So I sat down on the back porch and just stared at him and I guess he got tired of looking at me because after about 30 minutes he got up and ambled back into the woods.

Well, I have lots to do today such as getting the cub ready for Church camp, birthday party this weekend for a cubette, redhawks ballgame, and delivering the cub to Madill for a week. However, I have more to say about the cabin life so will continue it next time.

Chocolate and Coffee

I knew this day would come if I perserved long enough and what a joyful day it is. Before I explain why I am so happy there are some things I need to share to set the foundation for my glee. As you know, there are lots of things that we have been warned about eating such as the following:beef - mad cowchicken - bird flueggs - salmonellapork - trichinosisfish - mercuryfruits and vegetables - insecticidesThat led me to the conclusion that it left chocolate and coffee. Now you are beginning to understand my excitement.

Did you know that now coffee helps prevent cirrhrosis of the liver if you drink? Of course I don't drink but who knows when I might start so need to be prepared right?

Now to the sweety tooth, its all my Dad's fault and of course it was his Dad's fault since they all had a sweety tooth. Of course, I inherited it from them and being heavy into family traditions I am trying to do my family duty to keep this tradition going.
This tradition often led me to do untraditional things to support the sweety tooth. When I was just a youngster, we were pretty poor in material things (rich in what mattered though) so I figured out a way to buy those milky ways. You see we had chickens that laid their eggs under the house where it was cooler than their nest. The older sibling that caused the demise of my milk business wouldn't crawl under to get them (too dark and scary) so it was up to me. She wouldn't carry them to the country store to sell them (too embarrassing) so you guessed it "yours truly" with her little bag of eggs took them and sold them for cash and then used that cash to buy milky ways. Of course, I shared them with the sibling, you thought I wouldn't didn't you?

Matriarch Cow

I have learned some interesting things in the mornings while I sit out on the deck drinking my coffee and surveying the countryside (my alien built this magnificent deck for us this summer, I will write more later to explain the events behind the alien's new name) . Yep, I am a country girl, and proud of it. Anyway, there is a pasture on a hill (in my view) and each day there is a specific order as to the activities that go on there. First, there is this matriarch cow that comes along and begins to eat. Its almost like she eats her fill and then sends a silent message to the rest of the herd. They begin to trickle in and pretty soon the entire herd is there. Have you noticed that for the most part all the cows in a pasture will be facing the same direction?
You see, I have some personal knowledge about cows. Being a very industrious lass who wanted to make a little spending money, I established a milk route delivering to these two elderly ladies. Twice a week, I delivered them each a quart of milk. I charged them 15 cents a quart. It was as fresh as you could get it since I milked the cow and then delivered it still warm. I was all of 12 then and had it made until my older sibling became embarrassed at me "pedaling" milk.
Oh well, as someone special use to say, "such is life".

The Amortized Tomatoes

We are the proud recipients of two ripe tomatoes. We haven't eaten them yet but I am sure they will taste awesome since if we amortize them out, they probably cost about $30 a piece. Of course, we have more getting ready to eat (if we beat the birds to them). So hopefully by the end of the tomato crop they should level out at maybe a dollar each. It is sort of like playing the stock market. You put money in and get something back. Come to think of it, we didn't do well in the stock market either, if we put two dollars in, we got one back. Oh well, everything can't be measured in the profit margin sometimes it comes down the the sheer pleasure (such as biting into a vine ripened tomato) of accomplishment or in our case participation.

Texas Thief

Get a cup of coffee, relax and get ready for a good laugh. For identity purposes, the two ladies will be called Ellen and Kay. Here is their story about their recent shopping trip to Dillards in Texas.
Clutching their Dillards' shopping bags, Ellen and Kay woefully gazed down at a dead cat in the mall parking lot. Obviously a recent hit--no flies, no smell.
"What business could that poor kitty have had here?"murmured Ellen. "Come, Ellen, let's just go..." But Ellen had already grabbed her shopping bag and was explaining, "I'll just put my things in your bag but keep the tissue". She dumped her purchases into Kay's bag and then used the tissue paper to cradle and lower the former feline into her own Dillard's bag and covered it with the tissue paper.
They continued the short trek to the car in silence, stashing their goods in the trunk. But it occurred to both of them that if they left Ellen's burial bag in the trunk, warmed by the Texas sunshine while they ate, Kay's Lumina would soon lose that new-car smell.
They decided to leave the bag on the top of the trunk, and they headed over to Luby's Cafeteria.
After they cleared the serving line and sat down at a table, they had a view of Kay's Chevy with the Dillard's bag still on the trunk.
But not for long. As they ate, they noticed a black-haired woman in a red gingham shirt stroll by their car, look quickly this way and that, and then hook the Dillard's bag without breaking stride.
She quickly walked out of their line of vision. Kay and Ellen shot each other a wide-eyed look of amazement. It all happened so fast that neither of them could think how to respond. "Can you imagine?" finally sputtered Ellen.
"The nerve of that woman!" Kay sympathized with Ellen, but inwardly a laugh was building as she thought about the grand surprise awaiting the red-gingham thief.
Just when she thought she'd have to giggle into her napkin, she noticed Ellen's eyes freeze in the direction of the serving line. Following her gaze, Kay recognized with a shock the black-haired woman with the Dillard's bag, THE Dillard's bag, hanging from her arm, brazenly pushing her tray toward the cashier.
Helplessly they watched the scene unfold; After clearing the register, the woman settled at a table across from theirs, put the bag on an empty chair and begin to eat. After a few bites of baked whitefish and green beans, she casually lifted the bag into her lap to survey her treasure.
Looking from side to side but not far enough to notice her rapt audience three tables over, she pulled out the tissue paper and peered into the bag. Her eyes widened and she began to make a sort of gasping noise. The noise grew. The bag slid from her lap as she sank to the floor, wheezing and clutching her upper chest.
The beverage cart attendant quickly recognized a customer in trouble and sent the busboy to call 911 while she administered the Heimlich maneuver. A crowd quickly gathered that did not include Ellen and Kay. They remained riveted to their chairs for seven whole minutes until the amb ulance arrived. In a matter of minutes the curly-haired woman emerged from the crowd, still gasping, strapped securely on a gurney.
Two well-trained EMS volunteers steered her to the waiting ambulance while a third scooped up her belongings.
The last they saw of the distressed cat-burglar, she disappeared behind the ambulance doors, the Dillard's bag perched on her stomach.
There are two things I got out of this story, besides a good laugh, one is that things are not always as they seem and the other is my Mom always taught me if it doesn't belong to you, don't touch it!!

Such is Life

A wise mother once told me when something happens "such is life". I never learned to appreciate that until much later in life. So here are some useful (hopefully) guidelines to"such is life":
As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn't supposed to ever let you down probably will. You will have your heart broken more than once and it's harder every time. You'll break hearts too, so remember how it felt when yours was broken.
You'll fight with your best friend. You'll blame a new love for things an old one did.
You'll cry because time is passing too fast, and you'll eventually lose someone you love. So take too many pictures, laugh too much, and love like you have never been hurt because every sixty seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you'll never get back.

Casper

Friday, June 16, 2006
In case you have not met Casper, he is a very important member of our household. He is incredibly spoiled, loveable and very sociable. He is very loyal and loves his friend Riley. They play together and have so much fun.
We had to cancel the birthday party that we intended to give Casper and Kathryn was deeply shocked, she had assured us that she would `come. Matter of fact, everything Casper does is shocking to my sister Kathryn.
Another beautiful day here. If we can beat the birds to the tomatoes today, we might actually get to eat some vine ripened tomatoes.
Still enjoying the terrific grandson's visit. This week has gone by much to quickly.
I am still working on the marble story. It is profound so it takes a great deal of consideration in order to present it in the best manner.

Beautiful day

Good morning, what a beautiful day, the sun is shining, cool breeze blowing and a wonderful grandson visiting. How blessed can we be?
The ailing family members are all on the mend, thank goodness. We had people in five different hospitals in different cities at once.
Believe it or not, I still have some marbles left. You will have to stay tuned to hear the story of the wisdom of the marbles.