Saturday, May 26, 2012

Busy Saturday!

Today we will go over to Mayfest at Caney. But first we will meet Bob for breakfast. Esther made a hit with John and Leslie (and me too) last night. We had a good time at their house. I got to see Jeromy and Marlene too. They brought Maia over for John and Leslie to keep so they could pick berries for today's farmer's market. That's where Marlene sells her garden stuff. But then they left to go pick berries. Maia will stay the night with John and Leslie.

Leslie gave Esther a tour of the house and yard. Leslie is quite a flower gardener. Their yard is lovely. And, of course, their house is lovely too. John fixed steaks last night. We had my salad and some hot bread and corn. Then for dessert Keith and Esther had brought a Brahm's frozen ice cream pie. I will probably gain 5 pounds over their visit. :)

This photo was taken before they put in all the flowerbeds. I will have to take a more recent photo next time I am out there. They didn't even have the sidewalk in when this photo was taken.

This morning we will go over to Mayfest. Keith wants to see if anyone he went to school with will be home for the Alumni banquet or Mayfest. He graduated in 1974 and Leslie graduated in 1975. Two weeks later Leslie and John got married. They have been married ever since. Theirs is one of the best lasting marriages of that generation.

Tonight we will probably just stay home and rest. They will be leaving at 5:00 Sunday morning. They will drive straight through to Phoenix and rest up Monday before going back to work on Tuesday.

We also went to tavern on the Plaza and had a late supper tonight. It was very good although the music was much too loud. They had a couple of guitarists with amplifiers. Dinner music is supposed to be low enough so the patrons can visit. Sometimes entertainists don't care. They are showing off their talent.

Keith and Esther took some photos yesterday and he will send them to me and I will share them here when I get them.

Friday, May 25, 2012

They're Here!

Keith and Esther came in last night about 5:00. It was a very nice evening. After talking for a couple of hours we went up to Brahms and got an ice cream cone. They had a bowl of chili first. I really like Keith's wife. She's a keeper!

After work, I rushed home and mowed. It looked like it might rain and I certainly wanted to get the lawn mowed before that happened. As it was, the rain never developed.

I have my hair appointment at 7:00 this morning. I will leave shortly for that and get back to this after I return as I have time. If it's open today, they would like to see the Brown Mansion and the Dalton Defender's Museum. I will check later on.

I made some soft serve ice cream while Esther was getting ready to leave and put it in the freezer to firm up. We may have it this evening after the cookout.

More later....

They got up later then I do but that's not surprising. I sat out on the patio with my son and visited while his wife slept in. They were really exhausted.

Then after a light breakfast, we went to the Dalton Defenders Museum and the Brown Mansion. They are out by themselves now. They probably needed a break. I made my salad and now will go lie down a bit. Tonight we will go out to Leslie and John's home for the cookout.

When they came back they had been to Wal Mart and bought me a new Oster blender. Mine died on Thursday after probably twenty years. It is much nicer then the one I had. Those kids! I fix a lot of fruit smoothies and sometimes that's what I have for supper. Now I will have a glass blender to make them in.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Today's The Day!

Keith called last night to say they were staying overnight in Texas and would be coming in today around 4:00 PM. I get off work at 4:00 so hopefully they will be here either when I get home or shortly afterward. I am glad they stayed overnight there. I was afraid they would either hit a deer or go to sleep at the wheel driving so many hours.

I didn't have much to do at work yesterday and don't know what they will have for me to do today. Things are so slow. I want to mow this evening because I will get my hair done in the morning. The wind has blown and blown and I went out this morning to pick up limbs in my back yard again. I did sleep well last night. I sat down to watch TV last night and fell asleep briefly but it didn't seem to make much difference to my night's sleep.

I watered the flowers and cut back my mums this morning again simply because the wind is blowing 30 miles an hour here and the ground is so dry. I made some coffee but only drank one cup this morning. I did have my oatmeal. I had a nice e-mail from Scott this morning.

Friday evening we are having a cookout at John and Leslie's home with just the family. Saturday we will all probably go to Mayfest in Caney. All my kids graduated there and Keith is hoping to see some of his old classmates while here. Keith and Esther are leaving Sunday morning. Going back to Phoenix is a eighteen hour drive. Hopefully they will stay overnight in Texas again and not try to drive it all in one day.

Then Sunday evening we will meet over at Karan's for another cookout when Bruce can be there with his wife Cindy. None of us has ever met Cindy. Bruce is an old friend who we knew and loved when we lived in Caney those eleven years. He used to come over Sunday evenings and have ice cream with us while we watched TV.

Two years ago today, Bob died. It doesn't seem possible.

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Keith and Esther Come Today

I haven't seen my son, Keith, since last Thanksgiving and have never met his new wife so I am excited. They were to have left Phoenix at 4:00 AM this morning. I don't know how many hours it will take them but he has my cell number in case there is a problem or if they come in while I am at work.

I woke up at 3:00 after getting to bed at 11:00 but I am so wound up that I could not go back to sleep. So I just got up. I will put my chili on this morning. My meat, which I got from Leslie, is only partly thawed after being in the frig all night. It will thaw in my slow cooker. Bob has a fine serrated knife and he cut it in two for me. It comes in two pound packages. I froze the other half for later.

If they get in in time for supper, we will have the chili...if not, we will have it tomorrow. I will get some shaved ham for sandwiches too. I will go to the market at noon.

More later

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

A Very Busy Day

This has been one of those days. I got up at 5:00 this morning and got ready for work and then watered all my plants. I went on to work after I drove to Independence and had my hair done at 6:45.

I had enough work to do to keep me busy today. Of course, I'm only working until 4:00. I had had a small bowl of oatmeal for breakfast and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch so I was hungry.

When I got off work, I came home and could not figure out what I wanted to eat. I called Bob and we agreed to go to Sirloin Stockade where we could get some veggies and a good meal. I picked him up.

After dinner and a good visit I took him home, Then I came home and put in a load of laundry. I sat down to watch some TV and give myself a manicure and a pedicure and then I awoke an hour later and tried to stay up long enough to watch Frontline on PBS. I was about to go to bed when I remembered I had not put the clothes in the dryer so I got back up and did that.

Now I remembered I had not blogged this evening.

I finally heard from Keith. He and Esther are leaving at 4:00 tomorrow from Phoenix to come here. I hope they don't hit a deer driving at that time of day. They will be bringing Esther's car too. I don't know when to expect them. I don't know how long it takes to drive from Phoenix.

I have to work Thursday after all. Originally, the office was to be closed Thursday and Friday and also Monday but the legislature has changed their minds and we are only going to be closed Monday. Of course, I have Friday off so that will give me a four day holiday.

I thought I had registered for camp but I looked for my registration and could not find it and I could find no evidence that I had written a check either so I did that too before going to bed. I think I'm slipping away.

Monday, May 21, 2012

Fairly Busy Monday

It's been fairly busy today at the office. I scanned a lot of traffic tickets and did some filing.

I ate one of the TV dinners that were in the frig when it defrosted a couple of weeks ago. I think those dinners were only party defrosted and taking them over to Bob's refroze them. The one I had this evening wasn't as good as usual. That probably had something to do with it.

I want to run over to Maritt's after while and take them Slinky's bed. Missy isn't interested in it now that Slinky is gone. I also have some treats for their dog. I gave them Slinky's nice bowls earlier.

I left work at 4:00 this evening. I am not taking cakes this week so I will work only seven hours. I will go to Independence tomorrow morning at 7:00 and get my hair done. It's a mess.

More later...

Sunday, May 20, 2012

A Really Busy Sunday

This has been a doozy of a day! Church School and Church was the first thing this morning and then afterward seven of us went out to El Pueblo for lunch. Then Bob brought me home and I cleaned up my backyard so John could load the mess my neighbor's tree made into the back of his pickup and take it out to the farm.

Then I went out to their house and picked up mine and Bob's meat from Leslie. I then came home and put it in the freezer and went over to Windsor Place for the support group. From there I went to Country Mart market and priced our meat so we could pay Leslie. Then I went to Wal Mart to price it there. I had given her $20 but that was $3.38 short.

Then I came home and read for awhile before going to pick up Gary and Bob for Living the Questions group at Bobby and Karan's home. There we had a cookout for supper before we began our DVD study. That broke up close to 9:00 and I took Gary and Bob home. Now I am ready to take my bath and go to bed. I got up this morning at 4:30.

What a day! Tomorrow, before I go to work, I will do my letters. I simply did not have time to do them today.

A Wild Eyed Radical

Someone here in my hometown sent me an anonymous letter last week. To begin with, anonymous letters are a sign of a coward. Generally I ignore such letters because my philosophy is “if you don’t have the nerve to sign your letters, don’t send them”.

The basic objection was about my support of President Obama for reelection. The letter was supposedly authored by a college classmate of President Obama. The classmate accuses the president of overwhelming the US economy to create systemic failure and social chaos. The author doesn’t explain why the president would want to do such a thing or even how, since there are three arms of government and the presidency is just one of them. He just makes a list of wild unsubstantiated statements.

He also accused the president of being a devout Muslim. That’s an old unproven statement generally made by someone who doesn’t do his/her homework. The letter’s author also quotes Glenn Beck, which automatically sends up a red flag to me. My opinion is that anyone who lends any credibility to Glenn Beck is definitely a wild eyed radical.

The letter goes on and on with one unsubstantiated accusation after another including one that accuses the president of trying to turn the US into a Marxist state.

I won’t dignify the letter by sharing any more of its content.

Common sense is lacking in this group. I have seen pundits criticize President Obama for being a secular socialist one minute and a secret Muslim the next. Let's pick one, guys!

In reality, Obama's Christianity is much more Gospel-based than that of any of the right-wing nut jobs. You don't need to get beyond Matthew 5 to realize that. His own family life is more traditionally American than that of any of his rivals. He emulates "American Exceptionalism" more than any of his rivals (though I hate the term). He grew up in a half-immigrant family, went to good schools on scholarships, got married to one exceptional spouse, and had two kids.

I also find whacky the right wing talking-point that he is "not an American" in his thinking. Since the President is well to the right of me on most of his actions so far, and my positions, in many respects, are close to views held by Eisenhower Republicans, what does that make me?

It covers up the real issue of racism and a racist attitude. My belief is that 85% of all objections to the president is poorly disguised racism.