I'm Not a Republican

Let me preface this with "I have never been mistaken for a Republican" 

Okay. This is getting better and better. The other day I had an experience at the hospital with one of my FB friends when she innocently whispered to me that she thought we were the only two Trump supporters in the waiting room, I was speechless. Well, not really. (You know me, right?) I looked around the waiting room and saw a bunch of elderly people and a family of Hispanic people. Hmm ... Believe me, not many people in Georgia are Democrats. We both had a good exchange and a few laughs with a stranger in the lobby. It wasn't contentious, just lively, if you know what I mean.

Later on, my mamma reminded me that her husband had written several letters to the editor in the local rag complaining about "takers" or whatever it is conservative, tight ass, privileged, white, males complain about. I don't take the Dalton paper, so I'd forgotten. It was enlightening but I still didn't regret complaining loudly about Republicans trying to take social security and medicare and medicaid from us.

She asked me if I wanted the government to support us from the cradle to the grave and I said, "Hell, yeah. If they can afford to take us into two wars they sure as hell can afford to feed people and give them healthcare!" ((I was a little loud.))

Anyway, I stand by my stance and believe that a country as prosperous as America should be ashamed to have homeless people and allow poor people, and children and elderly people to go hungry and be denied healthcare.

I told her that if she followed me on FB she should know I'm not a Trump supporter. I came back today and checked to find out she had unfriended me. I'm sure she hasn't been on my friends list for a long time because I don't have any less friends than I've had for months. Anywho ...

After I was with Mamma and came back to the waiting room I asked her how her husband had done. She said they had to put a stint in. I told her I hope he makes a speedy recovery.

I'm not trying to shame her but I want to know why Republicans think they deserve healthcare but people who don't have lots of money don't.

Despite the fact I embarrass my Christian friends sometimes I have a big heart and I bought into all that "Jesus says" stuff and believe his greatest virtue was his giving and loving heart and his compassion for others.

I also believed that this country was great because everybody was entitled to justice and equality for all.

Maybe I'm a dreamer (flower child), but I'm not the only one. I want healthcare for everyone, even the assholes who would deny it to others.

******

Later I got this message:

Pam. There are no words for what you wrote on your public face book page. I was in shock that you could lower yourself for such stupidity. There are no words for you..... and by the way I never de-friended you. YOU have defriended me. I feel sorry for you and never in a million years would have believed you were that evil and downright mean. I am sorry that when security was called they did not haul you out of the hospital for the vulgar cursing you used in front of the young adults and the folks that were there and worried and concerned about their loved ones. They did not want to hear your CRAZY political views. Every one was looking at you. I am so hurt and mad that you could have wrote such a stupid story.

*****

I responded:
I did not unfriend you. Really. I am surprised you bothered to read my FB page and I am sorry you got so upset. I didn't give you a hard time and I didn't KNOW SECURITY WAS CALLED, if they ever were. I was not trying to offend anybody and I was telling the truth. You DID say that we were probably the only Trump supporters in the hospital. I did not use your name and I did not try to embarrass you. I think your husband's politics speaks volumes about your crazy political views, not mine. Get over yourself. I was trying to point out that people deserve healthcare no matter who they are or who they vote for. If you can't see that it is your business.

I was in the hospital waiting on my 88 year old mother's procedure. I've been in the hospital about a dozen times since 2013 with Daddy and Momma and Donny and my son and myself. I do understand the pressure people are under while waiting on their sick relatives to get HEALTHCARE. I was not writing a stupid story but while I'm at it I'd like to ask WHY DON'T PEOPLE BELIEVE EVERYBODY DESERVES HEALTHCARE?

*****

I'd like an answer from someone. Why don't people in America believe everybody deserves healtcare?

Was I really too mean, for God's sake . . .

AS ALWAYS

PIO

SEPTEMBER

I saw a sign the other day. It said something like "my life didn't turn out like I expected it to be" and I thought that pretty much sums up my whole life. 

I've been painting and cleaning up around the house. I'm trying to get Alice's room painted so she can have a cheerful place to play. I am a horrible painter and if it wasn't for Colt I would have never gotten started. One gallon of paint wasn't enough so I had to buy some more. I've never painted the walls any color except white so I was a little anxious about smearing the walls a jackfruit yellow. They turned out fabulous.

The grass seeds that Colt planted when he repaired the lawn is so thick I have to raise the blade on the lawnmower all the way. 

This has been a busy summer. I had been mowing Moma's lawn until she got a wild hair and bought a riding mower so I didn't have to do that any more.

I got to see Alice pretty often this summer and enjoy watching her develop and grow. She's a smart baby and has a great personality.

We didn't have any cookouts or do anything with the family this year. I miss that. We used to cook out at least one or two times a year when Daddy was around.

It won't be long before Halloween and Thanksgiving and Christmas. Whew ...
Three fourths of the year is gone. 

The presidential election is impending and everybody is on different sides. This is the most contentious and disgusting election of my lifetime. I hope to God everyone gets off their fat ass and go vote.

That's all I have to say about that.

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

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY
Resaca Rose

AS ALWAYS

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PBS 9-30-2016  Friday 11:45 pm EDT

APRIL

I love April. It's probably my favorite month. Everything starts blooming and the weather gets warmer. I can remember years ago when I got my first pair of glasses and rode around in awe looking at the flowers and trees that were in bloom. I hadn't realized how blind I was until then. 

Only one thing mars the beauty of the month. This is the month that my dear cousin, Donna, died unexpectedly 36 years ago. She was only 20 years old. I wonder what she would have been like if she was alive today. She was funny, and cute, and a great friend. We grew up together so she was almost like a sister to me. 

Donna was also very stubborn. She got mad at me one time and wouldn't talk to me. I can't remember what she was mad about but if she was around I'm sure she would remember. We lived near my grandmother's house and I would see Donna out there. She acted like I didn't exist. It really hurt my feelings and made me sad. I begged my grandmother to talk to Donna and get her to forgive me (for what I don't know) and talk to me again. Thankfully, she listened to Beulah and forgave me and we became fast friends again. 

I don't know what I would have done if she had been mad at me when she died. I don't get over things easily. Neither did she.

She was mad at her mother before she died but my aunt told me that Donna forgave her. I don't know if that was true or not because I talked to Donna on the Sunday before she died and she told me she was never going to trust her mother again. She found out her mother had been seeing her ex-husband but lied about it. Donna didn't like David. 

Donna never forgave people for lying to her. She dropped several friends she grew up with for lying to her and not taking her to Florida on vacation one year. 

After Donna died we talked about her all the time and tried to piece her last few days together. I found out her husband had been seeing another woman who had been calling Donna's house to talk to him. Donna said she could hear a baby crying in the background. She thought it was her husband's baby by the other woman.

He was a notorious liar and told some outrageous tales. He had her convinced I was chasing after him and drove a wedge between us. She should have known I wouldn't touch him with a ten foot pole. He was young and ignorant and wanted to keep Donna away from everyone who would support her. After she died, he and his sister went to an attorney to try to get Donna's house. He also told Donna's mother that some woman was chasing him at work. He had the nerve to say that people were teasing him and would clap their hands every time he walked by. I didn't understand what she meant until she told me that he meant the guys at work were accusing him of catching the clap from that woman. He was nasty.

He told so many lies that we never did know what really happened to Donna. He said some nasty things about when the detectives interrogated him. He was one of the most disgusting people I've ever known and I can't understand why Donna put up with him. I think he played on her sympathies because he lost his father when he was young and Donna lost her father when she was little, too. She got in over her head before she realized what he was really like and never had a chance to get out of the situation.

We always wondered if he had something to do with Donna's death. There never were any definitive answers for why she died. She died in her bed and was supposedly asleep when she started convulsing and bucking in bed. Her husband said he straddled her and held her down instead of getting up and turning on the light. He didn't even call an ambulance. He called my grandmother and said Donna was dead. She ran out to my mother's house and knocked on the door. 

Momma was sitting in the den, waking up, getting ready to go to work. She said she heard Beulah moaning and yelling "Open the door. Donna's dead!"

Momma hollered for Daddy to wake up; Donna was dead. She said Daddy jumped out of bed and rushed to Donna's house before she and Beulah even got there. Donna was laying on the bed, in her jeans and shirt. Daddy leaned over her and started doing CPR on her. Momma said she was on one side of Donna's bed, rubbing her hand and calling her to wake up. She said Donna was already cold. Daddy told me later on that Donna's jaw popped when he tried to open it. He thought she had been dead for a while.

That was the most devastating and tragic thing our family had ever gone through. Donna's daddy died in a trucking accident when she was a baby and our family reeled for years from that death. Donna's death would take decades to recover from. Actually, we never completely recovered from her death. Our family split and turned against each other and has never recovered. If anybody had told me our family would have disintegrated like we did, I would never have believed them. We used to be so close I thought we were invincible. I wouldn't wish that pain on anybody.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Sanna, Patricia, Susie, Debbie, Aja, Allen, and Kathy

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

Jason and Hanna, Myra and Noodie, Ann and Jim

RIP
Beulah Burchfield, Henry Cornwell, and Donna Shoates

REMEMBER
Tax Time

AS ALWAYS

PIO

MARCH

I know it's March and I know I'm getting later and later every month so don't be hating. I've been busy doing things. Yeah, that's it. I've been busy. Like today, Scout came by and helped dig up the grease trap to see what was wrong with it. 

The sink and dishwasher haven't been draining for a while. For the past three days I was flushing out the drain pipe with the water hose but the water still wasn't draining fast enough. When Scout dug up the ground around the grease trap he found the concrete pipe was broken. He finally repaired it and now everything is okey-dokey again. No wonder everything has been a mess around here.

I developed leg spasms and was so sore I could barely walk after sitting over the pipe for three days. The only bright spot was the surprise I got when I looked down between my legs one day and saw a frog staring up at me from the mud. He was probably thankful for the puddle of water accumulating over his bed. Poor thing. He didn't realize he was living in a toxic waste dump.

You should have seen the chunks of grease that I flushed out of the line. Gross! I hope I didn't grease up the little frog too bad. Maybe it will moisturize his skin. 

Poor old Don has been working seven days a week and never has time to take care of the things he usually has to do around here. He's nursing a cold right now. He's probably just run down because he never gets any rest.

Don's better off than his brother in law, Noody, is though because he got burned by a brush fire and had to go to the burn unit in Atlanta. Ouch!

I went to the doctor with Momma the other day. I'm glad we went because Momma was telling the nurse about eating collard greens to thin her blood and the nurse told her that her blood was too thick already, not too thin, and she needed to quit eating greens. They thicken the blood.

I don't know what's worse, being sick or not knowing what the heck you're doing and making things worse. We went to the Oakwood Cafe afterwards and had chicken livers. 

Donny and I got to eat at the Oakwood Cafe with Colt and Meredith and her family for dinner last week, too. We got to see Baby Alice She is such a sweet baby. We are so lucky. 

I made a road trip to Acworth last weekend to see my cousin Debbie. She is one of my favorite cousins. After tax season we're going to Character's Famous BBQ and check it out. I can hardly wait. 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Heather, Jami, Dana, Mike, Mary Jane, Johnathon, Jason, Alex, Patsy, Sunshine

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

RIP

Jerry White, Debbie Chitwood, Crick Marshall, Mary Bell Carter, Evelyn Chastain, and Lela Smith

REMEMBER
Daylight Saving Time, St Patrick's Day, Spring, Palm Sunday, Easter

AS ALWAYS

PIO

FEBRUARY

Happy February. We're in a new year and spring is on the way. I looked hard today and noticed daffodils starting to bloom. It won't be long before the forsythias make a showing. We're getting plenty of rain so it should be a good year. Right now, as I look out my dining room window, it's dark outside. We're under a thundercloud. 

Today is my beloved husband's birthday. He's finally as old as me again. I happen to be a few months older than him. That's why I tell him he should defer to my wisdom, because I'm older, don't you know. He usually just lets me have my way because I'm so vocal and won't shut up.

Yesterday we took a trip to Cracker Barrel and used the gift card we got for Christmas from Katie and Scout. Donny has been nursing a cold and didn't feel very good but he enjoyed getting out and eating his favorite meal, steak and eggs.

I'm happy to report everything is going okay with everybody in the family. I've gotten to visit my granddaughter, Alice, a few times and I think she is beautiful. She has such cute little chubby cheeks.

Momma had to call a plumber out to fix her pipes under the house. It's fifty-five years old and the cast iron started to leak. She finally got that fixed so she is hunky-dory now. I hope the pipes last another fifty-five years.

I have a ton of supplies so I can start painting Colt's room. I keep saying I'm going to paint but haven't started yet. I think I need to build a fire under me. I'm just afraid that if I get started I'll want to paint the rest of the house and that's not going to happen.

Well, until next time, or until I do something outstanding, tah-tah for now.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Mikki, Alicia, Brooke, Don, Douglas, Bailey

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

HAPPY GROUNDHOG DAY
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

RIP
Delbert Callahan

AS ALWAYS

PIO

MAY

Whew! Nobody told me getting older was going to be so hard. If they had of told me I'd have tried harder not to get old. 

It's always something. Right now I am transitioning from constant caregiver to part-time homebody. I get so distracted when I'm not on my own schedule that I forget to keep up with my bills and laundry. Needless to say, I get behind.

Things have "flipped" again, in my life. My baby boy, the Coltman, has flown the coop. He moved out on his own. Yeah, now Donny and I are empty-nesters. Colt is working in Atlanta full time now. What to do, what to do?

*******

Between running up to Dalton every day to check on Momma or Bennett I don't have much time to do everything that needs to be done around here. I have literally a mountain of junk piled in Scout's room that I've accumulated since he's been gone. Now I'm sorting through Colt's room moving stuff around trying to figure out what I should do in there. It's a mess.

I think I am psychosomatic. I probably suffer from ablutophobia or possibly disposophobia. I collect things. Things ordinary people would trash. For example, I have an overabundance of plastic meat containers with lids that sandwich meat comes in. I took a stack of them to the Christmas dinner with Donny's family so everyone could get leftovers to take home last year. It impressed my sisters-in-law. I don't know why I haven't thought of using them like that and depleting my reserves before. 

*****

I promised to keep Mamma's yard mowed and, between Scout and me, it's looking pretty good. I went to mow Saturday. Colt was loading the truck up with spare furniture he salvaged from Momma to take to his trailer.

Jason and Hanna were there with their little boy, Tristan. Jason is Scout and Colt's oldest friend. He and Hanna are expecting their second child soon. They're having a little girl. Tristan is a doll so I know the baby will be, too.

Another white car was sitting in the driveway when I drove up but I didn't pay attention. I finally heard Katie say something about Joann and asked her what she was talking about. She said, "Joann is over there," pointing at the white car. I had totally blown by her and didn't even notice.

To tell the truth, I really didn't think about Joann being there. She's not supposed to drive and I never thought about her getting her friends to bring her by the house.

She said they rode by my house, but figured I was sleeping and didn't stop. Mind you, it was going on noon by the time I got to Mamma's house. Oh Joann sure is a kidder. 

She had Nancy and her friend Sandra with her. Sandra is a truck driver. She's about my age. 

We had a full house Saturday. Not only were Jason and Joann there but my aunt Mary was visiting with my momma. She had been visiting for a while. Mary lives in Savannah with her son now. We love it when her daughter-in-law, Tonia, brings her for a visit. Mary went back home on Sunday.

I was hoping Momma and Mary and I could do some things together but Momma didn't want to socialize. Mary kept herself entertained reading a paperback and chain smoking. 

Thankfully, Mamma's church family fixed them several meals and brought them to Mamma's house. They are excellent cooks, especially Shirley, the preacher's wife. They're good people.

*****

Burger's Market is open again this season so I got a beautiful tri-colored pink mandevilla plant and gave it to Momma for Mother's Day. I bought myself two different kinds of ferns. I love them. They give any house a southern vibe.

Poor Donny has to tend to our yard alone. Nobody else is ever around to help him. I've started doing my part by tying the goat out so she can eat some of our overgrown spots. Bonnie acts like she's always starving so it's a win-win for all of us. Well, all of us except Buddy. He got off on the wrong foot with the goat and she doesn't like him at all.

Now Buddy cowers in fear when the goat gets on a tear and decides she wants to butt him. Oh well. Live and learn, I always say. Maybe next time he'll be a little nicer when he meets a goat.

*****

I'm becoming cautiously optimist that this might turn out to be an awesome summer. Here's hoping. 

Bless you all as you go about your daily struggles. We all have our crosses to bear. Just think "this, too, shall pass" and carry on. I love you all, even when I'm being a bitch sometimes.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Rachel, Steve, Connie, Maranda, Nita, Junior, and Madison

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

REMEMBER

Edwadene McAllister, Grampaw Carter, Ev Chastain

RIP

Vivian

AS ALWAYS

PIO

Daddy's Last Birthday

Happy New Year Everybody! I hope everybody made it through the New Year alive and well. Today we went to Momma's and Daddy's for dinner. We were celebrating New Year and Daddy's birthday.  Momma made two delicious lemon meringue pies. Yum, yum. My mouth is watering just thinking about them. I love lemon pies.

I thought I'd share Momma's recipe with you for new years. Consider this my gift to you. Enjoy! 

Happy 2013 Peace and Prosperity for US All. 

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

LEMON MERINGUE PIE

9" pastry shell per pie

FILLING

1/2-3/4 tsp grated lemon rind, packed

1/3 cup strained lemon juice (2 med. lemons)

1/4 cup cornstarch 

2 tbsp all-purpose flour

1 1/3 cup sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 cup boiling water

3 egg yolks

3 tbsp firm butter

MERINGUE

Dash of salt

3 egg whites

1/3 cup sugar

1 tsp sugar

Bake and cool pastry shell. Wash lemons and grate off yellow part of rind. Squeeze juice, run through course strainer. Blend cornstarch, flour, sugar, and salt in a 3 quart saucepan. Stir in boiling water (double boiler style). Place over direct heat, cook and stir constantly until thick and clear, about 3 minutes.

Beat egg yolks, quickly stir in about 1/3 cup of hot mixture, return to double boiler. Cook and stir about 2 minutes longer. Remove from heat, stir in butter, then the rind, then the lemon juice, gradually in small portions, mixing well after each. Pour into cooled pie shell.

Meanwhile, make meringue:

Add salt to egg whites and beat until just stiff, then gradually beat in 1/3 cup sugar until meringue is stiff and shiny. Spread lightly over pie so it touches crust all around, swirl or spread smooth and mark into 6 serving pieces with long knife blade. Sprinkle with the tsp of sugar. Bake at moderate temperature 350 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to cake rack out of draft to cool 2 or 3 hours before cutting. Makes 6 servings.

Double recipe to make two pies.

From Meta Given's Modern Encyclopedia of Cooking (1959)

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

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Roy, Rhonda, Amanda, Evelyn, Ann, Frankie, Lisa, Angie, Sue, Norma, Joey, Donna, Valerie, Angela, Jacob, Mika, Brenda, and Teresa

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY

Donny and Pam

RIP
Jimmy Hutson, Sam Burchfield, Lela Smith, Beulah Burchfield

HAPPY NEW YEAR

AS ALWAYS

PIO

Happy Birthday Daddy!

Best Laid Plans

I planned on cooking turkey and dressing last weekend for my birthday dinner but didn't get it thawed in time. I tried thawing the turkey in a cooler, but made the mistake of putting ice on it right away. It froze into a block of ice. I should have let it start thawing first, before covering it in ice. Live and learn, I reckon. I finally cooked it on Sunday.

The turkey turned out great and, despite a couple of meltdowns when I panicked, everything was delicious. To make it feel like a festive celebration, I made deviled eggs, and potato salad, to go with my turkey and dressing. 

I tried calling my parents but nobody answered the phone so I called Scout and told him I was fixing my birthday dinner, and invited them. Scout promised to come by later for leftovers. He had already eaten because he forgot I was cooking.

Oh well. So much for my family party. I didn't mind, though. Donny, and Colt, and I were more than willing to tear into everything and stuff ourselves silly with our feast. I don't cook turkey and dressing very often so it was a treat.

I got to eat turkey and dressing sandwiches for a couple of days, too. I love leftovers.

By Wednesday I knew I wanted something else to celebrate my birthday, so I made a pear pie. I know people usually have birthday cakes, but I love pies.

One year a friend of Donny's gave him some pears and I made a pear pie out of them. It was delicious so now I make pear pies whenever I can. If you like apple pies, you will probably love pear pies, too. 

There is a pear tree where Scout lives so he's given me some pears that I put up in the freezer. I got out a couple of boxes and thawed them. I added sugar and cinnamon after they thawed. I also made a flaky pie crust. 

I don't usually brag on myself but I have to admit it turned out really good.

I had a nice low key birthday and got to celebrate it over several days like I wanted to. It's easier to celebrate birthdays when you get older. You don't have to try to impress anyone, or do anything you don't want to do.

Nobody pays attention to your birthday when you get older so it's not a big deal. I got simple presents from my family this year and I was happy with everything I got.

I had to pick Scout up from work on my birthday so I talked him into putting my new tag on the car for me. I really appreciated that.

Colt went to Dairy Queen and bought me a hot dog and a banana split one night. I thought that was really sweet.

Donny came in with an empty 2 gallon bucket they get belzone in at work. I like to use the 2 gallon buckets for mulch buckets because they have a lid and insects can't get in them. That was useful. 

Momma called and sang to me. Who could ask for anything more?

My birthday would never be complete if I didn't get something for myself. This year I went to Kmart and bought a ceiling fan for the washroom and a bunch of yellow rubber ducks for my swimming pool. I also got a cool pink and yellow straw hat for $3 the other day.

I know we're supposed to be in a drought but it's been raining for weeks now. Every day I think about getting in our swimming pool it gets cloudy and thunders so I haven't been in the pool very much this summer.

I can't wait to get in my pool wearing my pink and yellow straw hat, and cheap sunglasses, surrounded by rubber duckies, floating around and around in circles in my backyard.

I may be old but I still feel like a little kid inside. That's why I thought it would be fun to have rubber duckies floating in our pool. Everybody needs a little whimsy in their lives. 

That's how I celebrated my birthday this year. How was yours?

AS ALWAYS

PIO

*****

Consider becoming a follower of Resaca Rose.

Thank you.

Snakes and Snails

It's been hotter than blazes around here. This week it got up to 100 degrees. It's so hot that the grass has stopped growing and started turning brown in spots. It's so hot that I've been putting out lots of water for the dogs and cats and filling the birdbath every day. I even put a dish of water out for the little critters that creep around on the ground. I got that idea from Scout. He has a little dish sitting on the ground with water for the frog that lives under his porch.


So many critters are suffering from the heat. It only stands to reason that they will turn up wherever they can find water. Scout and Kim have a swimming pool in the backyard. This king snake probably smelled the water or was searching for food in the surrounding undergrowth.

My boy Scout likes to be a snake wrangler. Okefenokee Joe (http://www.okefenokeejoe.com/) came to Dug Gap School and gave a demonstration about snakes when he was in kindergarten. Scout has been charmed ever since.


Scout probably got his love of snakes from my grandfather. He was notorious for not killing snakes. Grampa thought everything was good and he didn't eliminate snakes in his philosophy. Grampa had a pet little snake that lived in a rock wall in his yard. Momma saw it one time and tried to kill it but Grampa stepped in and told her not to hurt his little snake. He said he had burned some brush near the wall and he thought he had blinded the snake. He felt sorry for it and would feed it grubs and insects when he saw it. He said it was his friend.

My grandparents moved from town to Crow Valley later. They lived there several years before a dam was built near them. Grampa's property was below the spillway. Grampa and Gramma loved fishing at the bottom of the dam. Grampa also liked fishing in the lake. 


Grampa said he went to the top of the dam to go fishing one day and saw a stringer at the edge of the water. Someone had left their stringer of fish in the water. A snake had tried to swallow a fish on the line and the fish was stuck in it's throat. Grampa picked up the snake and the fish and tried to work the fish out of the snakes mouth. He said he worked slow so as not to hurt the snake until he was able to get the fish dislodged from the snakes mouth. 


He put the snake back in the water until it got it's strength back. It finally swam away from the bank, away from him. He said the funniest thing happened. The snake turned around and swam nearly up to him and swam in place with it's head sticking out of the water. It just looked at him. It began to swim away again and got a little farther but stopped and turned around and swam back to the bank where Grampa was standing. It swam in place with it's head raised above the water looking him in the eye again. It swam away again but stopped, again and swam back to him one more time to look at him. It finally turned around and swam away.


Grampa said he thought the little snake came back to thank him for saving his life. He was so proud of saving the snake's life. 


Momma laughed and said she bet the snake wasn't thanking him for saving his life. She bet the snake was sizing him up and wondering if he could swallow Grampa.


We all had a good laugh over that but I think Grampa was right. The snake understood that Grampa saved his life and wanted to thank him. Animals may not think like we do but they do understand more than we give them credit for.


God put everything here for a purpose and that day Grampa's purpose was to save that snake's life. That's kind of cool if you think about it. 

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

Is That You Tom

My parents rented a house from Mr. and Mrs. Hale when I was six months old. It was a little two bedroom cottage that sat behind the Hale's house at the edge of the woods. I loved living in the little house. We lived there until I was eight years old. 

Mr. and Mrs. Hale had a nice modern looking house with a lovely paved circular driveway. They had a hedge separating their yard from our yard behind the driveway. Mrs. Hale had a flower bed along the hedge. I liked to watch her plant flowers and tend to her garden. Sometimes she let me help. I believe that is where my love of gardening began, with a lady in a garden learning to tend to beautiful flowers.

Mrs. Hale was a lady in every sense of the word. She was married to Clifford Hale who was Superintendent of Dalton City Schools. They were both well educated. 

One time they had a beautiful garden party for some of their hoity-toity friends. They had tables set up with tablecloths and china under the trees. Bouquets of flowers enhanced the elegance setting. I'd never seen anybody have such a beautiful big party like that before. I stood at the edge of the hedges, watching the guests and activities at the party. It looked so exciting.

The little house we lived in behind the Hale's house was nestled at the edge of a tree line. It felt very secluded from the neighbors. We could only see the Hale's house in front of us. I always felt safe living there. The only time I was ever scared was when I got lost in the woods. 

I wandered around in circles until I came out on the other side of the tree line at a neighbor's house. Several people were outside in the yard and saw me come out of the woods crying. They called around until they called Mrs. Hale. She told them she would tell my mother. We didn't have a telephone.

Momma came to pick me up and take me home.  Momma thought I'd run away from home but I didn't. I was just being a goofy little kid wandering around in the woods near my house when I realized I was lost and was hunting my way home. I was pretty scared. If I hadn't had my little cocker spaniel, Janey, with me I don't know what I would have done. She stayed by my side and didn't leave me alone.

Our little house had one bathroom and I can remember being so little I had to wrap my legs around the toilet to keep from falling in when I sat down. I was always afraid of falling in. One evening while I was sitting on the toilet, looking at the Sears Roebuck catalog like my Daddy did, I heard a loud noise outside the window. Momma hollered at me to ask, "Is that you Pam?"  I told her I hadn't done anything. The sound came from outside.

Daddy wasn't at home so Momma got Daddy's pistol out of the bedroom and walked down the hall, past the open bathroom door. She told me to stay inside; she was going to go check outside to see if she could see anything. She came in a little bit later, madder than a wet hen. 

Momma said someone had been peeping in on me while I was in the bathroom. She said she should have gone out the front door and she would have caught the sorry rascal.

We had a propane gas tank sitting under the bathroom window and there were hand prints in the dust. We saw it clearly the next day. We had proof that someone had been spying in our windows. Momma promised herself she'd use better judgment next time and she'd shoot him if she caught him back there. I believe she would.

I never thought about the implications of someone getting their kicks out of peeping at people, much less kids, when they were naked when I was young. I just thought they were probably 'touched in the head'. Looking back at the situation now I realize how dangerous the situation could have become. Maybe we were lucky the guy saw Momma come down the hall holding a gun. That probably caused him to think twice about coming back. I'm pretty sure Momma could have made a hole in him if she had a chance.

AS ALWAYS

PIO

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Cheating

A medical scandal is surfacing about doctors cheating on written exams for their medical licenses. It is coming to light that different sections of the medical community have been passing answers around so others can prepare for the tests. Radiologists, dermatologists, and who knows all have been exposed as cheaters. I never liked cheaters.

I've always said and believed, "... you wouldn't let a doctor practice medicine on you if he cheated would you? ... Neither would I, so never cheat. Make an honest grade. That's what counts." Now I find those same guys I've been holding to a higher standard are, themselves, cheats and possibly unqualified physicians. Ye gads!

What does that say for the medical profession, and equally important, what does that say about integrity? It's so much easier to access information nowadays so maybe they should allow wider latitude about testing and make the rules more lax but do you want to go to a surgeon who hasn't studied everything because it was so much easier to look it up on the internet? How do you know who cheated and who really knows their stuff? If radiologists are cheating, and dermatologists are cheating, you know other fields of medicine are doing the same thing.

I don't know how doctors learn everything they need to know, anyway. I can guarantee that I'd never in a million years be able to become a doctor. They have so many articles and studies to keep abreast of new information, on top of the hundreds of patients they have to shuffle through their medical mills. Doctors probably don't have very much time to evaluate their patients. When they get their license and go into business doctors "practice" medicine. Maybe they have always cheated and that's why they call it practice instead of repair. I don't know. I still don't feel comfortable with doctors cheating.

I think we have to insist on quality in certain professions. Medicine is one important profession that should be held to the highest standards. Doctors can help or ruin people's lives. I'd prefer to err on the side of helping.

I never liked cheaters. When I was in elementary school a teacher accused me of cheating off another student. I think we were taking a test. I may have been fidgeting because I didn't know the answer but I did not cheat. I don't remember if she sent a note home to my mother or gave me a failing grade on my paper but I do know what my mother did. She made sure I was telling the truth and then she went to school to talk to the teacher.

Momma worked in the cotton mill and had a 'net' of cotton around her head if she didn't 'blow off' after work. She showed up in the hall at Mrs. T's room, clad in a halo of cotton. When the teacher saw momma she went to the door and asked who she was looking for. Momma told her she was my momma and she came to talk to Mrs. T. Mrs. T started backing into the room and momma followed her inside. Momma said she came down because Mrs. T had accused me of cheating and she wanted to get it straightened out because I didn't cheat.

Mrs. T was backed up against her desk and every eye in the room was focused on her and momma. Mrs. T said she caught me cheating and, besides, I hadn't been doing my homework either. Momma said, "Now I know that's a lie because I sit with her every night helping her get her homework." Then Mrs. T started backtracking and said I didn't turn it in. She made reference to some cousins somewhere in the conversation and Momma told her she had no right to judge me by something she accused my cousins of doing.

Momma told Mrs. T that she worked third shift but if she had to she would come to school every day and sit in class with me and make sure I did my work; then Mrs. T wouldn't have any trouble out of me. Mrs. T started himing and hawing because she realized Momma wasn't kidding. She wasn't going to let me get by with doing nothing, and she sure wasn't going to let Mrs. T accuse me of things when nothing was true. I admit being a goofy kid but I was very honest. I didn't know any other way to be. Momma and Daddy didn't broach any lies so I'd better not be passing them around to others. After that incident, my grades went up. I think Mrs. T didn't want Momma to come back to school.

That's when I first realized how important it was to be trusted and how important it is to be honest and tell the truth. It's also the first time I remember Momma standing up for me.

When I was in high school I saw a few people cheating. It got so bad that some people cheated or copied off each other all the time during tests. The same group of cheaters counted the ballots for homecoming queen one year. Oddly enough, one of the girls won. How about that? That was my first experience with politics. No wonder I'm a cynic.

AS ALWAYS

PIO
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FEBRUARY

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY YALL. I HOPE ALL YOU LOVERS HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY.


February is a between month. By that I mean, it is a time of waiting. It's not really cold and it's not really springtime. It's the period in between. I know people who live in other parts of the world are still contending with the cold and the snow but it has been positively tolerable around here The backyard is still green. Granted, it's mostly weeds and not much grass but it didn't die off like the yard did last winter. I'm not saying it's because of global warming but the weather has been awfully mild this year.


It's been raining a lot. That's not always good, especially if you live in lowland. We get all the run-off from the neighbors north of us when it rains. The water runs through our backyard over the septic tank field line. Too much water, too quick, tends to slow down the plumbing. I can always tell we've been getting too much rain when I leave the bathroom plunger in the bathroom for weeks because I might need it. I take it outside when we don't need it. The stinking plunger has been in the bathroom since Christmas! That's a sign of the times.


The other night I pulled out some old home videos and watched them. They were so bitter-sweet. Colt was my adorable little monster baby who wouldn't listen to a single word. You can hear Donny saying, over and over again, "Colt come here." "Come here Colt." He never takes a step to obey. I guess he had a mind of his own, even then. The little rascal would run away from me when he could get a head start. That's why I got Donny to build a six foot fence around the yard. I was afraid he'd run in the highway. 


Watching those videos took me back to the sweet days of the kids youth. I also got a few pictures of people in the family who have passed away. My only regret is listening to the people who kept telling me to 'quit filming me' and wish I'd just kept on. I would have had more pictures of my grandmother before she died. 


Donny's mother was on the tapes. It is such a drastic change from how she has become. Edwadene was talking and laughing and playing with the children. Now she has Alzheimer's disease and doesn't seem to know any of us. His little granny was also on the tapes. She died a long time ago. So was Donny's step-father, Charlie McAllister. He was a big old man. He was bigger than life. Charlie was a character and he loved to fish. Everybody who knew Charlie loved Charlie.


Daddy and Momma were so young looking. Wow! They were the age Donny and I are today. Time keeps on ticking. 


Scout was the sweet little shy boy he is today. He played 'horsey' with Colt and was always there as his protector.  


I wish I could go back to one day and spend it with my little boys again. I wish we could all go back and spend a day with those who are no longer with us and just enjoy being with them once again.

Don't forget to say "I love you." 

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HAPPY BIRTHDAY

Mikki, Alicia, Brooke, Don, Delbert, Douglas, Bailey
and those celebrating this month

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY
to those celebrating this month

RIP

to those who passed away

AS ALWAYS

PIO


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