JUNE

The other day I woke up only to realize our water wasn't working. That happens  so often I have the water company's phone number on speed-dial. I called to report the outage and someone told me the water had been shut off because of a water leak. Big surprise.

We've lived in Resaca for over 20 years and have always had trouble with the water. Instead of replacing all the waterlines and fixing the problem all at once, they like to patch it up until next time. I've become so used to the problem and so anxious about drinking dirty water I boil my water and keep it in glass jugs in the refrigerator. That's a good thing. I had a gallon of fresh chilled drinking water. 

Being the undaunted character I am, I decided to climb back into bed until the water came back on. Scout woke me up later and told me the water was running again. Woo-hoo! Happy days. Am I right?

Scout didn't feel well and took the week off. He stayed in bed late and sat around with a stuffy head, feeling blah. I finally got him out of the house one day to go with Colt and me to look for a new weed whacker. We bought a Husqvarnah trimmer for the yard. Scout fell in love with it. Boy, am I glad. He couldn't wait to try it out. The yard hasn't looked this good in years.

The burn ban was supposed to start in May but Gordon County was able to get it lifted until the end of the month because so many neighborhoods had storm damage and it is so much trouble to take it to the landfill. That gave us a perfect opportunity to burn all the leaves that keep falling off the magnolia trees. They shed leaves all throughout the summer. The leaves are like dry paper and burn easily. Too easy sometimes. Scout burned a limb on the tree because of a fire he made underneath them.

Don's been working seven days a week. The money's good but it's wearing him out. Colt started back to college. He's taking a summer class. He only has a couple of classes until he graduates.

Since we have a little garden this year we went to Mama's and Daddy's to help them plant their garden. Daddy likes to overdo it and plants enough for the whole family. They planted green beans, peas, tomatoes, corn and squash, among other things. I got Daddy to let us put newspapers and straw around his cabbage. We put it around the plants to cut down on weeding. I hope it helps. I hate working in the garden.

Next weekend is the Dixie Highway yard sale. It's usually the first full weekend in June. It runs north from Chattanooga all the way south to Atlanta on Highway 41. Everybody puts their merchandise out in their yards or along the highway to sell. I try to avoid it like the plague because I start rubbernecking and nearly rear end somebody every year. We live right on the highway so we get to watch the parade of shoppers and gawkers every year.

Next weekend is also my mother's birthday and Daddy always plans a "surprise birthday party" for her. This year he has invited their friends from church to a cookout. The boys and I are going to help him mow the yard and clean up for company next week. The boys weed eat and get the places Daddy can't mow on the riding mower. It doesn't take long if two or more of us work together. Daddy is wearing Mama out cleaning up around the house.

We've got lots of work to do around here this summer. Painting, gardening, and putting up new guttering. I think this is going to be a great summer.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Aaron, Dustin, Tyler, Sara, Colt, Tim, Eddie, Jimmy, Gary, Steve, Dana, Nancy, Hanna, Keegan, and Shanda

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY
Chase and Krista Sheram

RIP

J.L. Strickland, Mary Bell Carter, Sam Burchfield, Charlie Burchfield 

REMEMBER

Dixie Highway 90 Mile Yard Sale June 7-9th

Flag day June 14, Father's day June 16, and Summer June 21st

AS ALWAYS

PIO

What's Cooking

We had another cookout last weekend at my parents house. Daddy likes to celebrate Momma's birthday with a cookout every year. I think he likes having company. 

Scout, and Kim, and Layla were on vacation in Panama City so they didn't get to come but Donny, and Colt, and I were there. My two aunts were invited so they came. They had been at the Memorial Day cookout, too. 

I am so happy that Mary and Patsy live in Tennessee and are close enough to come visit often. They are such a delight to be around. They never meet a stranger, and are always cheerful, and uplifting. Every time we are together is a blessing. My aunt, Jonnie Bell, was invited to the cookout but she has lots of health problems and doesn't feel like getting out much anymore. She lives in Chattanooga. It was a very small celebration.

Patsy made a delicious butterscotch pie, and Mary made a yummy lemon meringue pie. I brought a carrot cake with cream cheese icing. Theirs were from-scratch. Mine came from a box. (I say, "Thank ye' aunt Betty. You know Betty don't you? Betty Crocker.") We had plenty of sweets. 

Momma didn't feel very good so she didn't do much. I put the hamburgers on the grill and watched them for a while. Momma brought a bowl out to put the hamburgers and hot dogs on and we went inside into the air conditioning to eat. 

Momma hasn't been out of the hospital long. She has pneumonia. I don't know how long it takes to get over that. She doesn't have any energy and can't breathe well.

Daddy's not much better. He's had heart surgery and stints put in so he huffs and puffs when he is outside in the heat. He didn't use to be like that. When he was young he was a dock worker. He lifted and moved freight all day or night long. He was in good shape. After he retired he didn't exercise and he eventually developed heart disease.

Although there weren't as many people at Momma's birthday party this year as last year, it was a very nice cookout. Everybody pitched in to straighten up and help Momma. It was just family, and just family is just fine. She really should be resting more than she is though. She needs to get well and that's the only thing they recommend when you have pneumonia.


Instead of having a cookout I had offered to cook a turkey and dressing but Momma said that Daddy didn't want turkey. It was the wrong time of year. What the heck? Is there any wrong time for turkey? I don't know. I just thought it would be easier on Momma if I cooked the turkey and brought it to their house. Momma said I could cook the hamburgers and that would help. Well, alright, but I still wanted turkey and dressing after I got to thinking about it. So did Colt.

I had a whole turkey in my freezer. I also had a whole chicken in there. Since Daddy didn't want to eat turkey for Momma's birthday I'd fix something for Colt's birthday. It was coming up. I decided to thaw out the chicken and cook a special birthday dinner for just the three of us, Colt and Don and me. We had dinner Tuesday evening and it was delicious if I do say so myself. I asked Colt what he would like with his chicken and dressing and he asked for macaroni and cheese. Okay, I figured I can do that. I cooked elbow macaroni, and then drained it,  and added a little milk to melt Velveeta cheese in the saucepan on the stove top. I make pretty good macaroni.

Everything was delicious. I had two containers of turkey juice in the freezer that I thawed in the microwave and poured over the crumbled up cornbread. I added a little bit of sage and salt and pepper and tasted it until I got it salty enough. I had added a little water to make it moist enough so I used chicken bouillon to make it more flavorful and salty. It's good to taste test every now and then so it's not too flat or too salty. Every now and then I get everything right. Colts special dinner turned out alright.


Two birthday parties in four days ... This is going to be a great summer.

AS ALWAYS

PIO

Grooving

Have you ever had one of those weeks where nothing special really happened, but really a lot of special things happened? I spent part of this week chauffeuring my son around. The old Mercury has been acting up, so he got me to take him to work and take him home every day. I had to get up before daylight and drive through the dark to pick him up. He'd usually make me wait a little while before we loaded up the car and blasted off to Bob's. By then, daylight made it possible to see.

The other day, I picked Scout up in Sugar Valley, and we headed on back to Resaca. The sky was blue, and everything was clear around us. We drove east past the river down highway 136 and turned right to cut across the backroads to Bob's house in Red Bud. Gordon county is a particularly beautiful place. There are farms along the way. It is hilly and pastoral. We ran into blankets of fog as far as the eye could see all the way to Bob's. I wonder if that is what the hills of Scotland look like in the morning.

Bob's driveway had hay strewn all over it. Scout explained it had fallen off as they brought hay to the farm. There was a huge stack of big round hay bales covered with a giant tarp. Scout pointed out a stack of rafters Bob had for his new barn. His other barn had burned down. That's why all the hay is under the tarp.

I usually pulled up close to the house and let Scout unload the car. Every day he carried a coat and a square pink Igloo cooler*, compliments of me, and his lunch. Scout doesn't usually eat out but he eats outside. They aren't usually close to any restaurants. They were putting up a fence in Murray county this week. Scout said he had fun putting a fence across a creek. I don't know if he was serious or not. He got his boots wet so that probably wasn't comfortable. 

This morning I dropped Scout off for work and headed back home. When I got to Resaca, instead of turning right to go home, I hung a left at highway 41 and drove the extra mile or so down the road, past the new Gordon County jail, to Hardee's for one of my favorite breakfasts. That's a treat.

Only, this time, I noticed they were awfully skimpy on the bacon and egg. It was mostly biscuit, and I sure didn't need that. I get plenty of starch daily, thank you very much. When I fork over money for food, I'd like to have some sustenance. Ya know what I mean? Anyway, I brought breakfast home for me and my baby. Baby, being the operative word.

Colt comes home on the weekend so 'momma' can do his laundry and give him a little tender loving care like nobody but momma can do. Ain't I right, ladies?

On a similar note I was talking to my cousin the other day and mentioned that I saw Scout with a roll of my paper towels under his arm as he was getting ready to leave. She said, "Yeah, isn't it nice when they come shopping like it's Walmart?" Yeah, really! Now the shoe is on the other foot, I understand what a nuisance I was when I was young.

Nothing much else happened except Donny's birthday was this week. Now we will be the same age for half a year. That always makes me smile a little.

In closing, all I can say is ...

AS ALWAYS

PIO

* I think the pink cooler adds a degree of  joie de vivre to the day.

Layla's Party

Layla is turning five years old. Kim gave her a birthday party Saturday at her house. Scout put up the Halloween decorations. Kim decorated for the party. Together they did a great job. It was a beautiful day for an outdoor party.

The front yard was decorated.

Layla entertained us on the drums.

The Reeves and Burchfields were there.

Layla and her cousin sang for us.

Layla is enamored with Taylor Swift, hense the sequined dress and blonde wig. She got to go to a Taylor Swift concert a couple of weeks ago.  She got a pink drum set for her birthday, too. She's a lucky little girl.


This was the first time we all went to Layla's party. I think our favorite part was watching the kids bob for apples. Layla's grandmother JuJu dunked the kids heads. 


Happy Birthday Little Layla. We love you.

AS ALWAYS

PIO

Baby It's Cold Outside

 Today I'd like to reflect on this day 29 years ago when my oldest son was born. I had been Christmas shopping at the local Kmart the evening before I went into labor. I must have looked huge because somebody told me I looked like I was about to have my baby. Little did I know that I would be going into labor in a few hours. I felt pretty good about getting some shopping in before Christmas despite the stress of shopping with the fevered Christmas masses.

I stayed up late that night watching TV and piddling around. When I finally started to bed I felt something warm streaming down my leg. Crap! My water broke. There was no going back now. I woke poor Donny up and told him "it was time". He bundled me into the car and rushed me to the hospital as fast as he could go. I told him to "slow down". I wasn't in any hurry to get there. He was driving like a maniac. I was afraid we wouldn't get there alive. He must have been afraid I'd pop the baby out like a PEZ dispenser.

I hated being in labor. I was attached to all kinds of machines and they wouldn't let me go anywhere. Donny, at least, got to go out to the waiting room and talk to my family and let them know how I was coming along. I thought that was awfully unfair. I'd like to be able to get up and walk around, preferably right out to the parking lot and climb into my car and drive home. Did I tell yall I was scared to death? Whew. Well, I was.

After a while the nurses said that the baby's heart beat was slowing down and they were going to induce labor for the good of the baby. Well, alrighty then. Get that thing out of there and lets get this over with. I know that they had a big mirror angled at my nether regions. You would think that I would have seen everything and remembered this moment forever, but you'd be wrong. The only thing I remember was when someone said, "My, he has a head full of hair." and I looked up to see something disgustingly wet and cheesy with swirls of black hair. Yuck! If that's what it looked like, I'd pass, thank you very much.

The doctor let Donny cut the cord and the nurses cleaned the baby up a little bit and handed him to his daddy. Donny brought the baby over to me and laid him on top of me. Scout was mad as hell and didn't mind telling us. He had his face all scrunched up and was red and screaming. That's my boy.

I thought he was beautiful. He had hair. That was a bonus. I didn't want a bald baby. He and I had a little bit of trouble getting to know each other but after he figured out how to latch on and nurse he was okay. What was I going to do with a little boy baby? I didn't know anything about babies and I sure didn't know anything about little boy babies.

Scout was the first grandchild in my family so he was spoiled and adored by his grandparents. Although my parents spoiled him, he wasn't a spoiled child. Know what I mean?

Scout always loved working with his hands. He was always building things and using his imagination when he was a kid. After he got out of school he went to work as a framer for a contractor. He did that for a few years until Donald went out of business. He got a job putting up fencing and has been doing that ever since. He has also helped Bob build barns and gazebos and sheds. He likes working outdoors, summer and winter.

Donny's moma told me one time that she though I didn't love my children by the way I would talk to them. Sometimes I would tell them I was going to "whup your little ass" if they wouldn't mind me. I wasn't Susy Sunshine with them. Later, she realized that although I talked tough to them, I really loved them.

I guess that's why I am so amazed that Scout grew up to be such a good young man. He works hard, loves his family and friends, and is unpretentious and funny.

Happy Birthday Son!

AS ALWAYS

PIO