Easy Asparagus

I love asparagus. Daddy used to have an asparagus bush planted beside the creek at his house. It came up every year. I didn't realize it was edible because we always let it sprout out and become a fluffy, airy bush. After we started eating it, if finally died out. I wish we still had one. They're lovely and delicate.

I never cooked asparagus because it was too long and I didn't know how to cook it. I thought it had to be cooked in boiling water. It took me years before I realized I could cook asparagus in my trusty little old blue speckle pan without cutting the stalk off. It's so good and easy, I thought I'd share my simple recipe with you all.

*****

EASY ASPARAGUS

I washed the asparagus and set it aside to drain. I drizzled some olive oil in my blue speckle pan. I brushed it on the bottom with a basting brush. I do that instead of using cooking spray.

Ingredients

asparagus

butter

olive oil

salt

pepper

I cut off a good chunk of butter and melted it in the microwave. I added an equal amount of olive oil and sprinkled salt and pepper into the butter and oil mixture.

I poured the oil and butter all over the asparagus and put the lid on the pan. I cooked the asparagus on 350 degrees for about 20-25 minutes. 

This is such an easy recipe anybody can make it. The pan is long enough I didn't even cut off the asparagus. I enjoy making asparagus now that I have a good pan to cook it in.

Like I always say, "If it ain't easy, it ain't happenin'."

AS ALWAYS

PIO

Roller Coaster

Lots of things have been going on since Daddy had to go to the emergency room a few weeks ago. He ended up staying in the hospital all week. He was passing blood and they couldn't get it to stop. On Friday they ran a camera up his urethra and looked around. The urologist called after surgery and told me nothing looked cancerous, but the bleeding was at the prostate. He didn't know why. They sent Daddy home after that. 

That was a strange week. The hospital was almost like wandering through a rabbit hole. They are remodeling and adding on a wing or something and there are places partitioned off and you practically need a map to navigate the halls. 

Mama and I went with Daddy to surgery and it was like walking through a maze. A nurse showed us an exit that came out near the emergency room, close to the elevators when they took Daddy into surgery.  We would have never found our way back to Daddy's room the way we came. Mama and I made our way back to the room to wait for him to get out of surgery. 

They finally wheeled Daddy back to the room loaded up on morphine. Daddy said it really hurt. He has a narrow urethra which made it more difficult. I hope he doesn't have to go through that again.

I was afraid Mama wasn't going to make it. She had a hard time getting around the hospital because of bronchitis. Daddy made them get Mama a wheelchair so she wouldn't have to walk down the halls. She couldn't have made it on her own. She had to stop and rest every little bit. Whenever she has trouble breathing I am afraid blood clots are in her lungs again. 

When we came to the hospital to visit Daddy she wouldn't let me find her a wheelchair to ride in. She walked all the way. Daddy fussed at her. He said they had volunteers who just loved to push people around when they couldn't walk on their own. 

Mama is stubborn. So is Daddy. And you wonder where I get it from.

I offered to mow the yard Thursday but they didn't want me to mow that day. I told Daddy to call me and let me know if he wants the yard mowed anytime. He's getting over a surgical procedure and shouldn't push himself. They had to sedate him. Daddy had finally stopped bleeding when they let him go home but he got a wild hair and decided to mow the yard that Saturday. He  started bleeding again. 

I don't know what it is about men, or people in general, but they do some of the dumbest things. One time my grandfather had back surgery to fix his discs. It felt so good, he decided he could plow the garden not long after surgery. By the time he got off the tractor he had messed his back up so bad he had back pain for the rest of his life. I tried to help Daddy avoid the same mistake.

Daddy decided to try mowing the yard again a couple of weeks later. He only rode for a little while before he allowed Mama to finish mowing. He started bleeding as bad as he did when he went to the emergency room. Fortunately, he had an appointment with his urologist the next day. The urologist didn't want to do anything else until Daddy healed from the laparoscopy surgery.

I told you Daddy is stubborn. Maybe he will finally listen to me and let me know when he wants the yard mowed.

******

In other news, Colt's not working with Scout anymore. He missed a couple of Monday's and Bob took it upon himself to let Colt go. I got Colt to write a letter explaining he had missed those days because he was working on his final Capstone project and had to work on it and meet teachers and other students to work on it on days that they were available. I thought Bob knew Colt had a very important semester and his classwork came first. Colt wasn't laying out. Scout never did give the letter to Bob.

Bob told Colt he needed someone full time and said Colt wasn't fulfilling his needs. Scout said that Bob never fires anyone and his excuse didn't make any sense. 

Scout doesn't even work 40 hours a week. He's lucky if he gets to work four full days a week and half a day on Friday. Forget it if it rains unless they are lucky enough to be building a barn or something. 

Scout is considered "self employed". He doesn't have any benefits. That is why I think it is so important for everyone to have health care in America. His job is dangerous and demanding. Lots of men couldn't handle working with their hands and back all day. More than one person has quit working for Bob after they found out how hard the job really is.

Scout said the new guy Bob replaced Colt with wasn't doing very good. He said the boy couldn't hammer and just piddled around, wasting time. It looks like Bob didn't get such a bargain after all.

Scout and Colt's friend, Allan, is also working for Bob. One day Scout said they had been working all day long and Allan said he had to stop and get something to eat because he was feeling sick. Bob brushed them off and said they had a couple more trailers to get up first. They were baling hay.

Allan has severe diabetes and has gone into a coma several times. Allan went to the truck and found a honey bun to eat. Scout was very upset with Bob for ignoring Allan and not giving them a lunch break. Allan wasn't able to work on Friday because he was sick.

Allan had to go to two hospitals over the weekend because of his sugar diabetes. Since Allan hasn't been working long, and he doesn't have any insurance, he can't afford his insulin. Allan is a young man. He's the same age as Scout. Every time his body goes into a coma it damages his organs. It makes me furious because people like Allan have to do without insulin to help them control their diabetes through no fault of their own. 

I can't understand how anybody would turn their backs on people who don't have insurance, or any money for health care. There's something wrong with a country that thinks it's okay as long as they get theirs but to hell with other people because they don't "deserve" health care. It especially makes me mad to think that our elected politicians feel that way.

*******

Autumn leaves are falling and the light isn't quite as bright. I'm sorry to see another summer ending but I'm excited to see what lies ahead. 

AS ALWAYS

PIO

Polk County Burchfields

*article courtesy of Jasper E. Rogers, former principal of Valley Point High School via Roy Burchfield, aka "Daddy  Bear".

Polk County Heritage

Two Polk Burchfields Families?

by Marian Bailey Presswood, Polk County Historian & Archivist

I suppose all of you know by now that I practically drop everything to help a young person who is interested in finding out about their family.  Guess that's because so many of us have the same sad story about waiting until everyone is gone who could have easily told us the information we're now digging so desperately to find.  That's exactly how I got into this "searching for dead people stuff" back in the mid 80's because my dad, with big tears in his eyes,  said the same thing. 
"Why didn't I ask. . .?"

So that's what happened when a young man, only eighteen years old, sent me an email this week asking about his Burchfield, Norwood, Shell, Polk folks. Bet you can figure it out from there, something got sidelined - and it wasn't his request!

And that's the first time I realized there must be two Burchfield families here that either never connect, or it's somewhere around the Garden of Eden- I never could find it.  But with the naming pattern on both sides of Robert and Nathaniel "Nathan", they really must connect somewhere- I just didn't see it.  And they both came from the same general area of North Carolina to Upper East Tennessee, and lived in the very same community here in Polk County nearly all their lives.

The young man descends from James Arthur Burchfield, born 1897, who was married to Naomi Norwood, daughter of Marion Frank and Cora Ann Gardner Norwood, and they lived over in the Benton Station Community. Arthur was the son of Wilse and Mary Jane Shell and his siblings were Mike, John H., Julie, and Horace Lee. 

Both Wilse and Mary Jane are buried in the Burchfield Cemetary up in Springtown, as are both Wilse's parents, Nathan and Julia Caroline Mashburn Burchfield. This 1832/1914 Nathan's parents were William, also called "Wilse", and Nancy Elizabeth Baker, daughter of James C. and Jane Estes Baker who came out of Ashe, North Carolina to Cades Cove. One of Nathan's sisters, Juda Emaline, married Jesse Hammons, from a prominent Polk family, and another sister, Dolly, married Charles Hughes also a pioneer Polk family. One line further back is also a Nathaniel (1776-1863) and wife Nancy Anna McKinney. Some researchers have further back, but since I didn't do the research I won't go there.

Mashburn is a common name in Polk research, and Julia Caroline Mashburn is the daughter of William Mashburn and Lucinda Peel, and the granddaughter of another William (1774-1832) and Mary Ann Dinsmore. Some enumerators write that name as Washburn - maybe they're a bit hard of hearing, or at some time it really was Washburn. In any event, that looks to be what's on their marriage record, 16 February 1860 in Monroe County. Nathan and Julia Burchfield had six children, John (m. Ellen Chastain, went to AR), Betty (m. Zach Williams), Wilse (m. Mary Jane Shell), William (m. Gracie Jenkins), James (m. Docia Womack), and Nep (m. Dama Alice ?).

Moving to the 1864 Wilse Burchfield's wife, Mary Jane Shell, she was born 16 October 1872 to Howard and Lucinda Hampton Shell. Lucinda was Howard's first wife and according to those old notes kept by Uncle Jack Bates she died 23 September 1899. Howard and Lucinda are in the 1880 census with Mary Jane, Benjamin, Malissa E., James and William. Widowed Howard is in the 1900 census with Susan, Jim, Bill, Ellen, Charlie, Peter, Johnie, Lyle, and Tom. That's a lot of kids in a household with no mother, isn't it? Howard's Findagrave memorial is #8536309 in Kirkland Cemetery, later known as Butler, and you can just click on her name from there to see Mary Jane's.

Pictured is Wilse S. Burchfield, sitting on his front porch in the 1940's as he loved to do and visit with anyone dropping by. The other picture is Frank and Cora Norwood, possibly with their first child, Cleadis, born in 1908. They look really young and surely the other children, Ella Mae, Naomi and Howard, would have been included in the picture had they been born.  (Thanks to Eric Nolan for sharing the pictures.)

Next week we'll tackle the "no d" Burchfiel family, which is probably the one with which you're the most familiar.  Until then, Preserve YOUR Heritage!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AS ALWAYS

PIO

*re-typed by me

I'm Livid

An estimated 100,000 people have died in the Syrian civil war since it began. Over 5000 children and 3900 women have been reported dead. Our government wants to get involved in the conflict in Syria since they have used poison gases to kill adults and children, totaling an estimated 1400 people. 

I hate war. If it were left up to me, America would never go into another war in the middle east again, unless it was a direct threat to Americans. The countries in the middle east are thousands of years old. There are many countries all around Syria that are strong enough to squash this insidious gassing of the Syrian people by the supposed Syrian government. They're still not sure whether the gas came from the government or rebel factions in Syria. We walked into the war in Iraq blindly following George W. Bush and it costed America over 4000 lives, not including the approximately 3000 people whose lives were lost in the 911 attack on America.

Let me break it down to you in the simplest terms I can. If 100,000 people have died in Syria from gunshots and women and children were slaughtered and we didn't intervene, how is it possible to become so outraged when 1400 people were gassed? Simply put 100,000 total, no reaction. 1400 people, time for war. 1400 people is 1.4% of the people who were killed in this slaughter. ONE POINT FOUR PERCENT!

I find it disingenuous for President Obama to suggest we engage in another war in the middle east. These people are pitiful but America has a terrible history of supporting one side against another and then being attacked and hated by the side we supported. Isn't it time we let Russia, China, and all the nations around Syria handle this problem and keep our noses out of it? Don't we realize that while Washington is flapping it's gums about attacking Syria, the world is watching these debates and will be prepared for any American involvement in their war? Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and dozens of other powerful and rich countries surround Syria. Why do WE have to be the ones to intervene? And why the hell is President Obama determined to follow in Bush I, Clinton, and Bush II's footsteps? Do all men who become president lose their mind and want to exert their power (our military might) over countries that have nothing to do with us? On another side note, why the hell is it alright to get involved in Iraq, Afghanistan, and everywhere else in the middle east but we totally blew off the deaths in Darfur and other countries?

Our troops have been at war since 1990 during the Persian Gulf War, aka the First Gulf War. They have been stressed to the max and their nerves and lives have been disrupted. It is time to quit acting like we are the only ones in the world who can do anything. Isn't that what the United Nations is for, to settle disputes and decide when the world needs to intervene? Everybody knows that the government may decide to get involved in wars and military actions around the world but when the soldiers come home and can't find employment, display mental problems because of horrific acts, and are wounded the government refuses to support them and offer assistance. They only want the soldiers to shut up or die. They sure don't want to pay for the medical help they will all need eventually.

Let's stop the charade and quit being Big Brother to the world. Use diplomatic channels to put pressure on Syria. Don't help kill more people by dropping bombs indiscriminately. Everyone knows that's a lie, too.

AS ALWAYS

PIO

SEPTEMBER

The flowers are looking great around the house. It has a tropical vibe. I planted some black elephant ears out front between my other elephant ears and fire poker red canna lilies. They've come a long way and are just about as big as the elephant ears I've had for years.The black elephant ears spread by a root system so it won't be long before they become a nuisance.

We still haven't finished painting the house. It's my fault. I was supposed to paint some boards before they're put on the house and I never did my job. Blame it all on me. Everybody else does.

Daddy called me today and told me to get up there. He's been passing blood and the doctor didn't know what the problem was so he sent daddy to an urologist. The urologist did some tests on him but they haven't got the results back yet. Today he was still sick and Mama was, too. Mama has been having a hard time breathing and the doctor told her she has bronchitis. She sounds like she is out of breath all the time. 

Daddy wasn't able to see the doctor today because it's Labor Day and all the doctors take the day off. Isn't that nice? When you're old and sick you just have to suck it up and try to hold out until a weekday or give in and go to the emergency room. 

You'd think doctors would be able to leave someone in charge of their patients over the holidays but instead they're hooked up to their patients via the internet. Mama talked to the doctor over the phone and had to give the doctor a list of Daddy's medicines. He took Daddy off blood thinners like aspirin and fish oil. I didn't even know that fish oil was a blood thinner.

Mama was lucky when she had to be hospitalized when she got sick. Her doctor was on vacation and another doctor was attending to his patients. The doctor diagnosed blood clots and scarring in her lungs. 

Mama's regular doctor never listens to her when she tells him about her breathing problems and always lectures her because she used to smoke, about 20 years ago! He is so fixated on making Mama feel guilty, and associates every symptom she has with her former habit, that he doesn't listen and try to find out what's really wrong with her. 

If it hadn't been for the wonderful doctor who took Mama seriously when she was complaining with shortness of breath, she might have died. Her regular doctor always diagnoses her as having bronchitis. I don't entirely trust him now since Mama has been short of breath all summer and he thinks it's still just bronchitis. Mama said she's going back to her breathing doctor soon. I hope he's able to help her. She's miserable when she can't do anything.

My idea of a great summer is when nobody gets sick, or hurt, or has any accidents. It's funny how your views change when you get older. I used to hate being bored and not having any excitement. Today I thrive on it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Butch, Katy, Kim, Susan, Carol, Larry, Corbin, Gail, Melissa, Melody, Erin, Emily, Debbie, and Jesse

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

Resaca Rose

RIP

Gary McNamer, Robert Burchfield, Jack Rat

REMEMBER

Labor Day, Rosh Hashanah*, Yom Kippur*, Autumn

*Rosh Hashanah: Jewish New Year, 4th
*Yom Kippur: Day of Atonement, 13-14th

AS ALWAYS
PIO