Merry Christmas Morning!

Here is the Christmas tree of a true grinch! Not really! I went to Penny's last night and had Mexican food. Pretty good stuff. Mexican Lasagne, Tamales, Green Chile, Chicken Enchiladas, Chicken Taquitoes, Salad, Avacado, Sour Cream, Tacos.. . .

Now today I will have toast for breakfast and make a veggie casserole to take to Jackie's at noon. Then over to Penny's to have lunch about 2. Lots of visiting. Sometime during the course of the day, I am going to get some weaving done. I am working on a blanket. Well actually I am working on two of them.

Got some corn for a special treat for the water fowl. They do not know what today is, but I do. They just like to eat every day. That and swim in the pond. What a life!

Anyway, Merry Christmas to you all out there. Or Happy Hanakuh, or what ever you celebrate this time of year. But remember...

Jesus is the reason for the season!

Happy Anniversary to me!!

I am going to pretend that today is December 23, 1983. It is very cold today, actually -15 degrees. Kenny and Gene Baugh are putting a drive line in the dump truck. Kenny Mercer is my boyfriend. Actually a little more than that, since we have been living together over a year. We have discussed marriage for awhile, but not got around to it yet.

When Kenny and Gene went to pick up the drive line at Pueblo Brake and Clutch they found it closed for, of all things, a Christmas Party. Gene went home and Kenny came in the house. It was then that I discovered how romantic that man could be! His exact words were "Let's go get this shittin' mess over with!" Now I ask you, what woman in her right mind could turn down a proposal like that?

So I got my new jeans on and my blue and white checkered cowboy shirt and away we went to Canon City, 30 miles up the road. Got the license and then needed some sort of preacher. As luck would have it we found one at the local assisted living facility. A resident minister, his bed ridden wife and another older lady walking down the hall with her walker. Having made short work of that little technicality we returned home, Mr. and Mrs. Kenneth Mercer, to find a very cheap bottle of wine left on our table by Gene Baugh, who knew our intentions.

Months later Gene would not drink it because if he knew he would have to drink it he would have got some good stuff. So we shared it with a son- in- law who first had to shake it up real good and then shoot the cork across the room at me.

Below you can see a few pictures of my Kenny and why this marriage worked. The first one is Kenny cracking peanuts and sharing with his dog, Polly. The next one is Kenny having a bowl of cereal with his bird, Rowdy. The third is Kenny sharing a laugh with his son-in-law (but not the one that shot me with the champagne cork!)

And of all the choices I have made in my life, this is the one I never ever at any time ever regretted. He had a phenomanal sense of humor, which is always necessary at my house. He was honest to a fault, dependable, caring, responsible and I could go on and on, but that would be gushing.

Suffice it to say, I found my soul mate in 1977 when I came to Colorado. Married my soul mate on December 23, 1983 and began life on another plane on January 30, 2003. Kenny is not "gone", nor will he ever be "gone". He just isn't here. Do I miss him? Of course. Do I need him? Of course. Will I survive? Of course.

That is my story and I'm sticking to it!

The Rainbow Bridge

The Rainbow Bridge

There is a place connecting Heaven and Earth.

It is called the Rainbow Bridge because of its many colors.

Just this side of the Rainbow Bridge there is a land of

meadows, hills and valleys with lush green grass.

When a beloved pet dies, the pet goes to this place.

There is always food and water and warm spring weather.

The old and frail animals are made young again.

They play all day with each other.

There is only one thing missing. They are not with their special

person who loved them on Earth.

So each day they run and play until the day comes when one

suddenly stops playing and looks up!

The nose twitches!The ears are up! The eyes are staring!

And this one runs from the group!

You have been seen, and when you and your special friend meet,

you take him or her in your arms and embrace.

Your face is kissed again and again and you look once more

into the eyes of your trusting pet.

Then you cross over the Rainbow Bridge together,

never again to be seperated.

I do not know who wrote this piece and it does not come with anything other than the words. And I think that is fitting, because any one who has ever lost a pet can feel this in their heart. While I have set her copying this, I have been remembering the pets I have lost. Some of them have already left the meadow with Kenny, but I know some will be waiting for me!

The only one I am not sure about is that Rowdy Bird. That was Kenny's Indian Ring Neck Blue Parrot. Rowdy died of lead poisoning a couple years after Kenny, but since he could fly I think Kenny probably went back to the meadow with Chile Dog and Sysnck and Rowdy flew on over. At least I think so.

My baby is eighteen today!

I shall wear this shirt today, because I have reached another milestone in my journey to the grave. Today the little Bret who I did not give birth to, but have none the less raised to adulthood, turns 18!
He has been very responsible pending this rite of manhood. He opened a checking account with his paycheck and put money in his savings. Gave me a check for what he owes me to date, plus January's car payment. He is planning on a cookout at the park in Pueblo West, and then will go to John's house and spend the night. He will go in to work about noon tomorrow. All sounds good on paper, huh?
He did come upstairs and kiss me on top of the head before going in to shower. At least he acknowledged that I am here. He does not want a cake. Monies should be paid on his car payment.
I had the talk with him about now that he is older and not so much under control of an adult that he is now entering the age of mutual respect and yada, yada. He has assured me that he will not be coming home covered with tatooes because he heard they hurt.
In all fairness, today is harder on me then I thought it would be and I think I now have a healthy respect for the "empty nesters" out there. While my fledgling has not flown the coop, he has for all intents and purposes shed the mantel of my baby and moved on to work on his own journey. About all I can do at this point is let the little fellow fly and hope he does not crash and burn on his way to the sun.

Happy Birthday Bret Mercer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is goose hunting season!

When I went out yesterday, I was surprised to hear shotguns in the distance and see a flock of geese arise off to the southeast. I could tell by the way they flew in different directions they were startled. They finally got it together and I tried to count as they went over. I do not know why I do that, but I like to see an even number. Guess that means they each have a mate.
Geese are amazing little creatures. They fly in a "v" formation and alternate leaders as the lead goose tires rather quickly. If something happens to a goose in flight, two geese will go down with it and stay with it until it either dies or is ready to travel on. People should be so considerate.

We live out in the county, so the hunting thing is fairly normal. I actually have 2 big holes in the back of my huge garage where a couple stray shots wound up. Now that the county is getting more populated it is not so bad, but we used to be afraid to walk out back in hunting season or target practice season.

The geese above are mine and they are not to worry. Anybody wants to shoot them has to come into my yard and there is a very good chance I would use a fence post over their head. But for the next few days I think I will hang out kind of close to the house until the hunters can get their barrell direction under control. While I realize that hunting has it's advantages in thinning the wild life, I still think it is sad. Of course the whole concept of death is sad, whether it be human or the birds that grace our sky!

Bionic Fingers!

I seen something on the news that just fascinates me. They are now working on and have in operation something called Bionic Fingers. This interests me because I have a granddaughter who was born with no fingers, only a thumb on one hand. When she was small she traveled back and forth from Lakin, Kansas to St. Louis, Missouri where she underwent several surgeries that were simply gruesome.

Doctors would take a tiny piece of bone from her toe and transplant it to her hand where a finger should be. Then she wore an apparatus that needed to be turned every day and the theory behing that was that would make a finger grow there. Needless to say, it did not work!

Now many years later, a set of fingers has been specifically built for a man who lost his fingers and retained his thumb. This apparatus is fitted to his hand. Each finger has a motor with sensors that attach to nerves in his arm. When he moves that muscle the sensor in turn moves the fingers. Now that the leap has been made it will be no time at all before this will be perfected and I can just see how this will help a lot of people, not just my granddaughter.

Having been born with no fingers on the one hand, she is what is called handicapped. She never knew this. I am the one who had a hard time remembering she was limited. She never looked on this as a handicap, just a limitation. I would hand her things with both hands and she would look at me funny. "Grandma, I can't carry all those!" Again I had forgotten. Teaching her to crochet was sort of out of reason.

Now she has two little boys, she cooks and cuts up onions, does everyday chores and has recently earned her Masters Degree. But think how nice that would have been for her to actually have 2 hands when she was doing this! I may actually be able to teach her to crochet, knit and all those 2 handed things I do!

One of these days I shall do a special entry on her, but first I have to get her permission to use her name and all the particulars, but for now it will have to do for you to know that I shine with pride over this little bit of fluff who has given me 2 great grandsons!

Please don't talk about me when I'm gone!

I just woke up with that song running through my head! "Please don't talk about me when I 'm gone! Though our friendship ceases from now on. In parting you go your way, I'll go mine, it's best that we do. Here's a kiss, I hope that this brings lots of luck to you." Or something like that!
Made me remember back to when I was in 3-4 grade and we used to play a game called "Gossip". Teacher would whisper something in the first kid's ear like "It is a lovely day for a walk in the woods!" When the gossip was whispered from lip to ear through the class it would come out something like "Lizzies dad talks to himself!"
This was our lesson that gossip is not good and we should not do it. Even if we are saying something nice to start out, when it is repeated enough it can become very distorted. So we do not do a lot of gossiping around here.
My mother had a different take on it. She always said:
"As long as they are talking about me they are letting some other poor soul rest!"
"If you can't say something good about somebody, don't say anything."
"What goes around comes around."
"The chickens always come home to roost."
Mother was a very wise woman and how I made the leap from waking up to the point I am now at is almost more than even I can fathom.
So that is it for the day. Kind of a waste of space, but that is what I am good at doing!