Need for Speed

The groom got a new car. How do you like it? I think it's H-O-T! And it's red. What's not to like? Scout, bless his heart, gave the old Mercury to his daddy. Now we have reliable wheels to go to Chattanooga next week for Don's defibrillator. I can't understand why Scout didn't just lend us the Firebird. Can you?

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Mama is improving by leaps and bounds. I am so proud of her. I knew you couldn't keep the old crow down for long. She quit using her oxygen so she could get around easier and she started feeling better. She hasn't needed the wheelchair around the house and was only using her walker until today. The therapist is letting her use a cane.  

Mama is able to take care of herself and do the laundry. She's getting back to normal. Nothing can hold Mama back but I hope she doesn't overdo it. She's awfully stubborn. 

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Katie and I like to do things together. Today I rode to the feed store with her to get goat food for Vinnie and Beatrice. We went to 41 Feed and Garden Center. One of my former beaus owns the store. 

I mentioned how sweet he was and the fact that he gave me an orchid when we went to the band banquet. I was only fourteen. He must have loved flowers even back then. He was a nice guy and he still is. That's why I try to buy something from him every year. 

We got the sweet feed and a leather collar for Vinnie then we left.

Katie asked me to help her put the goat food up when we got back to the house and we went into the upholstery room to put the food in a trashcan. 

Katie's white cat was in the upholstery shop so she started looking for her. Katie found the cat and three little kitties that were in a sack. Mama would have a cow if she found out. She can't stand Katie's cat. She's not going to like her kitties any better.

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Tomorrow I'm going to take Mama to the doctor for blood tests. I hope it goes smoothly. Last time Mama was impatient and I was grouchy. I chewed out the nurse because we waited nearly two hours.

I make a lousy patient advocate because I am not patient. The only good thing about having me for an advocate it that if you want someone to speak up for you, I will. But that's also one of the bad things about me. If you want me to be quiet and pipe down, you're probably going to be disappointed in me. I've decided to be honest and upfront with medical people and they can either prove me wrong or do what they're supposed to do. I want the truth and respect. Part of that respect entails not keeping a patient waiting nearly two hours. It took some talking but the nurse finally apologized for the delay.

Why do I have to pitch a fit before people pay attention to me?

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Donny woke me last Saturday and told me the tree cutters were outside. I jumped up and got dressed as quick as I could. They had already butchered one of my magnolia trees. I pitched a fit and asked them why the hell do they always want to cut our damn magnolias! I have fought to protect them for over twenty five years now and it's getting old. 

I don't care what anybody tells you, when they butcher a magnolia tree it never grows back right. The trees up the road look horrible because they cut them using the Shigo tree trimming method. I call it the "Shit-Go!" method because it looks like shit and ruins the trees integrity. They never go back to looking like they should.

Magnolia trees should not be trimmed. Our trees have had the lower branches cut off. They were like that when we moved here. That's why we can stand under the trees and walk around underneath them. Most magnolias have branches so low they touch the ground. Ours don't and they never will. Most trees have sprouts when branches are cut off but magnolias don't regenerate like that. That's why I get so enraged when someone comes along and cuts our trees.

On that note, this is my current fight. 

They butchered my trees. The bastards! Stuff like this makes me sick.

AS ALWAYS

PIO

Raising Cane

I love having Scout around here again. Everything went to pot when he was gone. He likes to stay busy so he decided to cut the cane that is growing in our backyard.

Scout cut down the cane because it gets too big every summer and looks like it's falling over the fence. He has his old trusty dog, Buddy, helping him.

He stacked the canes to save for some other project around here. Hopefully, we can use them to grow some pole beans this summer. They might make good fishing poles, too.

Scout cut the stalks down to about a foot high. Some of the stalks were thick. It took him a while to get them all cut down but it will all grow back before we know it, unless Vinnie has his way.

Vinnie helped Scout clean up the clippings. I noticed that he's already been nibbling on the new shoots of cane that are coming up.

The cane was this tall a couple of years ago. I'm only five feet tall. The cane was easily fifteen to twenty feet tall. I like the fluffy plumes at the top of the cane. It gives the backyard a tropical feel. It reminds me of playing in the woods when we were kids. We used to play in the "monkey trees" which were covered in vines, hence the name. 'You Tarzan? Me Jane.'

AS ALWAYS

PIO

APRIL

It's springtime in Georgia. Everything is growing and blooming. Last week we cooked out on the grill, and I mowed the yard, so the summer rituals are just beginning. I love looking out the back window and seeing my well-manicured lawn and watching Scout's goat, Vinnie, munching on bushes and vines growing outback.

When Scout goes outside all the animals follow him around hoping he will feed them. He looks like a pied-piper with Buddy, Vinnie, and a bunch of cats trailing behind. He never can feed the chickens without his entourage.

We get a kick out of watching Vinnie try to reach vines to eat, or jump on the picnic table. I run him off a hundred times. He lowers his head like he wants to butt me but changes his mind and jumps off the table before I can get there. One time I tipped the table over and made him get off so he knows I mean business when I tell him to get down. I even conked him on the back with a stick to make him get off. He knows I'm not afraid to make him behave. I'm learning as we go because I've never had a goat before.

The chickens are fat and nasty. Really, they're nasty looking. They're supposed to be white but their feathers are a buff color and we're not sure if they are just dirty or they turned that color. They aren't the pretty white color they were when they were young. I wonder how hard it would be to wash a chicken. Can you imagine that? I bet that would be a hoot. Oh well, I'm not trying that any time soon.

Scout and I saw a hawk circling over the backyard the other day. I wondered aloud if it was looking for a cat and Scout reminded me that it might be sizing up our chickens. They're pretty fat. They can't even jump a foot to get on a stick to roost. I don't know if a hawk could carry them away, or not. I sure hope he doesn't try it and we find out the hard way.

*****

One night I ordered a magazine online, and then I forgot about it. I got the magazine in the mail Wednesday. It was the Georgia Travel Guide. Andy Lincoln, of The Walking Dead, was on the cover. It's filmed in Senoia Georgia. I'm hooked on The Walking Dead and try to never miss an episode, or a rerun. I was so happy to get my magazine. If you're interested in exploring Georgia you should go to www.ExploreGeorgia.org, or on Facebook at Explore Georgia, and order one.

Happy Spring Y'all!

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

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY
Myra and Noodie, Ann and Jim

RIP
Beulah Burchfield, Henry Cornwell, and Donna Shoates

REMEMBER
It's Tax Time

AS ALWAYS
PIO

Distracted

This new year feels like the old year. Another Christmas and another New Year and we had the same old song and dance. It started to rain, and the ground was saturated, and we had to watch the plumbing closely. We live in lowland and get all the runoff when it rains. I believe this used to be a riverbed long, long ago and the natural contours of the land cause everything to flood when it rains a lot in Resaca. 

I didn't feel very well around the holidays and it took me a while to recover. On top of that, Colt was home for the holidays, and Scout has come back home again. 

Scout has been in the process of cleaning out his room, that I had turned into a dumping ground, and decorating it. He went to Home Depot and got two gallons of green paint and painted everything, then he put down new linoleum. He says it's the best looking room in the house, and he's right. It is. I didn't know the little fellow had such good taste. He's creating a man-cave and I love it. He got his decorating talent from my mama.

I gave Scout free rein to clean up with strict orders not to lose my papers. Papers could range from old bills and receipts, to important tax documents. I pile everything up and wait for it to all go away. It never does. That's why I need FlyLady. Doing a little at a time and going through it regularly will finally help conquer a mess, fifteen minutes at a time. I need to start flying again and that's a good place to start.

Having Scout and Colt home again over the holidays was nice. I had forgotten how much fun it is to have them around. They always pick on me and make fun of me because I'm "old", or "deaf", or something else. I don't mind. I know they're only stating the obvious and it's never in malice, only fun. I keep trying to explain to them that they should cut me some slack because ... well, doggone it, I'm old and deaf and naturally annoying so just get over it and give me a break. After all, I am their mama. 

Colt started winter semester at Southern Polytechnic State University again this week. I cried when he left. I thought I had finally stopped that silly blubbering but I guess I haven't. It took me by surprise because he had been getting on my nerves over the winter break. 

When Scout came home he brought his pets, a dwarf goat and two white chickens named Larry and Margaret. The goat's name is Vinnie but sometimes I call him Bennie and can hear that Elton John song in my head singing on a loop "Bennie! Bennie! Bennie and the Jets" only I hear it "Vinnie! Vinnie! Vinnie and the Pets."  Did I tell you I have a vivid imagination? 

Vinnie
and the Pets

An old friend sent me a book before Christmas and I've been reading it. When I get into reading a book, I tend to ignore everything else and don't get on the internet as much. I was reading The Land of Painted Caves by Jean M. Auel. It is the fifth, and possibly final, book in The Clan of the Cave Bear series although I hope it isn't her last. I was left hanging wondering what will happen to Ayla and Jondalar in their future. 

While I was reading The Land of Painted Caves I happened to see a program on the History Channel called CAVE OF FORGOTTEN DREAMS about a cave in France called Chauvet-Pont-d'Arc Cave with incredible paintings on the walls. It was discovered in December 18, 1994. That is the same cave portrayed in the Jean Auel book The Land of Painted Caves. The program brought the story to life as I saw the remarkable drawings that had been described in the book. It must have been a very important and sacred site for the indigenous people who lived approximately 30,000 years ago and who painted the animals on the walls of the cave. 

We are very fortunate to live in a day and age in which we can view these amazing drawings via pictures and film over television and the internet. I thank God every day that we live in such a modern society which links us all, everyone all over the globe. Knowledge is power.

Link to Cave of Forgotten Dreams

Link to video of Cave of Forgotten Dreams

AS ALWAYS

PIO