Mama and the Mail

You know it's strange one of the first pictures I can recall seeing of my mom was of her leaned up against an old car. It belonged to the mail man. You see back in the early days one of the few people who had a car was the mail man. It was such a big deal that my mom and her sisters had their pictures made in front of it. A lot last days were spent sitting under a maple tree in my front yard waiting and hoping for a letter or card from one of her other children or grandchildren. But to no avail the only time she got cards or letters was at holidays or birthday. How sad!

Snoring

I was talking to a dear friend of mine today and we were reminiscing about when we were kids. She actually started out being my sister's friend. Back then I was the little sister, who was a brat that wouldn't let them alone. On this particular night many years ago she had come and spent the night with my sister. I got kicked out of our bedroom, where they could listen to Elvis and talk about boys. I even got a really kool pallet on the floor in my Mom and Dad's room. Daddy went fox hunting and was out all night. Daddy wouldn't let me go fox hunting he said, it was just men sitting around a fire drinking coffee or shine arguing over who's dog was in the lead. Anyway when daddy came home the next morning, he went to sleep on my pallet. We were in the kitchen eating breakfast when we heard the most awful noise. It sounded like a couple of the dogs under the house fighting so mama sent me to wake up daddy. As I got closer to the the bedroom the noise got louder and louder and to my surprise it was daddy snoring! I ran back to the kitchen and told mama it was daddy and of course we all laughed.

Respect

I think that respect is one of the key ingredients that is missing from almost every home in this country. Children no longer respect their parents, teachers, authorities or themselves. If we as parents don't respect ourselves enough to demand respect from our children how will they learn to respect others. Respect is earned not given. We have to teach our children how to respect themselves and those around them. Discipline is something else that is missing in most homes. We as parents have to teach our children that there are consequences for their actions. These things are taught by example. Through our own actions our children will learn. We have to also teach our children how lucky they are to live in this great country. God, Family and Country was once the three greatest priorities in this country. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that I would see someone burn the American flag in this country! I would punish my grown children if I ever saw them do such a thing. Why are we sitting on our porches and allowing the minority to steal our freedom and our country from us? To many good men and women have died, for us to have these rights, for us to allow the liberals/progressives to take them from us. We all need to vote! We need to vote these people out of office and start taking our country back. The only way we can do this is one household, one town, one state and one vote at a time. Your vote does count! Stand up and be counted for this is our Country!

I love my porch

I am really glad that we put this porch on our house. Not only is it a focus place for all kinds of activities it helps to keep the house cool. It was 90 degrees here today and it was cool inside the house. We sit on the porch and just talk and rock or swing. Pop likes to take the computer outside and play chess. We have our first humming birds back. I put one of the feeders out and really enjoy the pair that are already here. Last year you would not believe how many hummers that were here. Everyday I notice more and more things that are starting to green up or bloom. The Japanese Magnolias and tulip trees were beautiful. I love the spring and watching everything coming back to life.

An Easter to Remember

Last year my son and granddaughter came down for Easter. Her Papa and I were so excited we colored eggs and laughed. Her papa fixed up one egg real special and told her it was the prize egg and if she found it she would get a brand new bicycle. Of course she had to search and search and found it in a garbage can! So the papa had to hold up his end of the deal. She being six at the time got to sit in his lap and drive to the local Walmart. They picked out a pink bike and she got to ride it to the check out counter where her papa paid for it. When they got back she rode it til she was give completely out. Then to our surprise the following week was spring break at her school and she got to stay with us a whole week. She and her papa are ruined!! They are both spoiled and they love each other dearly. Sometimes it's really hard to live so far away from them. I know that a lot of parents live thousands of miles from the children they love, but they are always in your heart and on your mind and in your prayers. On this day of our Lord's Resurrection may your heart be lifted and your prayers be answered.

Mama And The Snake

My Mama didn't like snakes! The only good snake is a dead snake. We were share croppers so we didn't live in the best of houses. We always had the mouse or rat traps set depending on the size of the 'dumplings' they left behind. We hadn't caught any in a while but yet we kept hearing something in the rafters at night. Mama said it had to be a big gopher, WRONG! We didn't have inside plumbing and had a fireplace for heat and a flu in the kitchen for cooking with a wood stove. So this one great morning my sister and I were getting washed up by the stove in the kitchen when a snake came through a hole beside the chimney! Everybody screams! Scares the snake and he tries to make a u-turn. Mama can't stand the thought of him getting away, so she takes my pajamas and grabs him! Tells my sister to go get the hoe, she gets the gun. Mama says I can't hold him much longer GET THE HOE! Sis gets the hoe, mama says, now I'm gonna pull him out and I want you to hit him with the hoe. OKK!!! Snake is chopped in pieces before he ever hits the floor. Somewhere in the mix of this I have gone and got the encyclopedia and told them that it was a rat snake and if it bit them they would be alright. Mama didn't take much comfort in my information. I think I was about 7 and my sister was 13, made for an interesting morning.

Fishing with my Dad

My dad had really wanted another boy, but he got stuck with another girl. He really made the most of it, not only was I his baby girl, I was his fishing buddy and sometimes his hunting partner. I couldn't tell you how many times he took me fishing but one of my favorite stories is the first time that I can remember him taking me. He had a special place on the Tennessee River he liked to go. They call it the South Salty. To get there we went down the mountain, and just about half way down there was a market that sold bait and fish and camping stuff. We stopped and got bait and they had a lot of good looking fresh fish and daddy said if we didn't have any luck we'd just buy us a stringer. He thought he was joking. On that particular day neither of us caught even a tiny fish! So on the way home we bought us a stringer of fish but he made me promise to tell Mama we caught 'em. Which I did, but I'm sure that he told her different later on. I loved my dad and I sometimes miss him a whole lot.