Remember when I raised these baby birds?

I know it is difficult to tell what these are, so I am going to tell you.  This is a picture of 5 baby cockatiels.  This little fellow in the lower left corner is probably the oldest of this clutch.  The little pink one behind the white one is probably 1 day old.  I do not remember what year this was but there were several years that I was in the bird nursing business.  Like everything in my life this started out so innocently.

Kenneth, my late husband had always wanted a parrot.  Well parrots cost a lot of money, so the compromise was made to give him a gray Cockatiel, so that is what he got.  That was one mean bird, so we thought he would be better humored if he had a wife.  So we purchased a White Cockatiel to be his bride.  As luck would have it, this was a match made in heaven.  Or seemed made in heaven until she laid her eggs and decided that was not for her.  So she ripped the eggs out of the nest, but Big Bird put them back.  It was soon clear that Baby was not going to be a good mother so she was removed to another cage and Big Bird hatched the eggs.  He tried to feed them when they hatched, but it was too much for him.  We put Baby back in, and she attacked the babies.  So it was clear what must happen.  I must be the surrogate mother to these little feathered creatures.

This entailed mixing food and feeding them with an eye dropper several times a day for a couple weeks until they could fend for themselves.  All the time Big Bird hovered near and spread his wings for them to sleep under.  Big Bird had a bad wing and could not fly, but he taught the babies to fly,  They were in a big flight cage with a limb in it.  He would line them up on the limb and then push

 the line of babies up the limb and as room ran out the first bird would fall off the limb and flutter.  It was at this point that I learned just how much Mother Nature had instilled in her wildlife.  Big Bird had never laid an egg and he had never seen a baby, but he knew what had to be done and did it.

Meantime down in the cage in the basement, Baby was as happy as she could be.  I would set her on my shoulder while I sewed.  She would rub her head against my neck and chew on my glasses.  No sign of the aggressive bird that tried to kill her babies. 

We hand raised all the babies until they were ready to go to new homes.  We named all the gray ones "Snapper" and all the white ones "Baby".  One "Snapper" went to Alamosa, one to Syracuse, Kansas, and I do not remember where else.  We raised several little batches of baby birds and it always went the same way with Baby.  Well, and with Big Bird and with us.  Baby just never was the mothering type.  Sort of like some women I have met.

When they reached a certain age, birds die and it was that way with our two little  friends.  Baby died first and it was very soon after that Big Bird also died.  I like to think they were flying around the Rainbow Bridge when Kenny walked over in 2003.  I know he would have smiled to see them, cause one thing is for sure, that man loved his animals and they loved him!

AIDS Walk 2010 Garden of Gods C/S

Well, today is October 9, 2010.  If my sister-in-law were still alive it would be her birthday, but she is not.  So it is the day we went to Colorado Springs to Garden of the Gods for AIDS Walk 2010.  What a beautiful day it was!  First I thought it was just right, then I thought it was cold, and then about halfway into our 3 mile walk, it got downright warm.

These are my two partners on the Loosey Goosey Team.  The one on the left is John Tenorio and Erik Gibson.  We have vowed to do a much better job next year, because all our money we raised stays right here in Pueblo.  Our team raised $1430.60 which made our team #3 on the fundraising docket.  I raised $1100.60 which made me #4 on the individual division of raising money.  Pretty impressive since there were 145 people raising money. 

 I am wearing my hat that I wore to the 10th Annual AIDS walk.  Do not remember what year that was. But it has lots of pins on it.

 Now look at this!  Who would not enjoy a walk through this scenery.  We actually went between these.  If you look real close you can see the line of people ahead of us.

 Here comes cousins Steven, Mark and Daryle Smalley.  Steven and Daryle live in Hutchinson.  Mark is currently in Denver. It was just great having them go on this walk with me.  I see them so seldom and they are all dear boys!  I used to change Mark's diaper.  Don't know about Steven.  Not Daryle, he was all potty trained when I worked for Aunt Alice.

 See we all got a red ribbon to wear and then we we got back we had to write our name on it and it then went into what is called the "Commitment Ball".  I knew when I headed up there this morning that some sort of commitment was in order!

 These are the shoes that carried this body on the route.  I am going to publicise them and then put them on eBay for sale to the highest bidder.  All proceeds will go to Southern Colorado AIDS Project and be earmarked for Pueblo.

This is the grand daughter that walked with me.  We had a great time.  Since she is a minor I shall just call her Dear Girl.  Next year she will help raise money and we will do really well.  Just got a late start this year or we could have really kicked butt!

And there you have it!  I have not put a lot of scenery pictures in and that is because I wanted to present the human face of this walk.  Scenery will be along in a day or two.  So, now I am going to have a nap and bask in the joy of the day!  A job well done, my good and faithful servant!

So, getting pretty tired of talking about my past, let's do yours!

http://www.firstgiving.com/loumercer

Today is the last day for me to do this and I am not going to ask you for anything.  Will just leave that there for anyone who might be interested.

Now, talking about my good old days back in grade school and even high school was a kind of hoot and there is many memories that are actually humorous, sad, learning experiences and such, but we can just touch on those "I remember when" moments lightly in the future. But as you see I grew up.  No one is going to set around and read about me falling madly in love, having children, divorces, job, moving cross country, and all this because I am not going to write all that down.

I read something the other day that really made an impact on me.  It was another blog I follow.  It went something like this: "If he was so great, where is he today?  I he was such a butt hole, why did you marry him? If you would rather be there, why are you here?"  Then I had another friend explain it so I could understand it.  It is called "free rent in the noggin and that is not good."  I shall now interpret that into terms that you (I) can understand.  Something in the past that dwells in your mind and takes your mind off the present day is taking up space in your head.  Can not think of the present or future because that memory is getting free rent in your brain space.  It has to do nothing to stay there, except to be.

So, like the every changing woman I have become, I am cleaning out all the bad memories, all the dead weight, and all the frivolous things that don't make two whoops in hell (like my momma used to say).  Oh, I will remember my heritage and the strong deep roots that have brought me to the point I am today.  I will pass that on to my children and grandchildren, but they do not need to know every step I took to get to this day.  They only need to know that this is where I am.  I am in Colorado and I shall stay in Colorado.  I have very little family here as they are mostly back East, but I have friends,  mountains, blue skies and my home.  I have my church and my God.

There are people who count on me here.  If I were not here I am sure someone would step up and take my place, but they would never be me.  For some reason God saw fit to deliver me to this particular spot 33 years ago, and like a noxious weed seed that fell on fertile ground, I have taken root and flourished!  I am happy here and I am sure this is where I shall stay all the days of my life.  Who knows what the good Lord has in store for this little atom that is but a piece of space dust?  Stick around and find out!

It is a wonderful world today!!

Sometimes I just wake up and I am so happy!  Today is one of those days.  Do you ever have those?  I do not know what I dreamed, but I think I dreamed about my brother.  I must tell you about him someday, but not today.

I can hear birds outside so you know the sun is up. Well, it better be because it is after 7:00 AM!  I know I am late getting around, but I been pretty busy.  Checked my fundraising and I only need $13.00 to make my goal on that.  Still short on the personal goal, but I will dig that out of the savings because there is no way in hell that I am going to fail.  That is just not in my vocabulary.

Today is one of those days when I feel like I could grab the world in both hands and run to the end of it.  I just love days like this.  Maybe I will get out there and take everything out of that tin shed and sweep it good, throw most of the crap away and then rearrange the rest.  Oh, but first I have to go to town and get a new pair of shoes for the walk, because mine are falling apart before my eyes.  I would hate to get up in the Garden of the Gods and just have my shoes fall off my feet.  Bet that would put a damper on this good mood!

I am taking a couple camera's with me and you will see some beautiful shots when I post the next time.  My pink camera is 6 mega  pixels; my black one is 10, but the bottom falls off of it and the batteries roll across the floor.  So, I am thinking about borrowing one from Bret who seems to have an endless supply of money and can buy this stuff at his leisure!  Any way, you are going to see scenery that will have you grabbing your car keys and heading for Colorado!

And when you do that, you be sure you look me up!  I am always game to spend a few hours with someone who drives that far.  We will run up to Beulah and see my good friend, Jan, at the coffee shop and stop in and see Jim at his wood place where he does his carving.  Oh and I forgot to tell you that yesterday on my way to town a deer leaped across the road right in front of me and then jumped the fence into the cemetery!  What a way to get my little heart beating!

Well, people, I got water fowl wanting out, my tummy is growling and I bet a dollar I could find a load of clothes for the washer if I look hard enough.  So as mundane as the day may be, it is going to take more than that to bring me down today.  I love these days, just don't know why some are so much happier than other days.  I will go with it!

Let's take that Google earth thing one step further!

Did you ever just click on that google earth thing and play around with it? You can type in an address, say in Denver, and hit the fly me there button and hang on to your stomach!  In a matter of split seconds that camera will zoom from Pueblo, Colorado to the address in Denver and zip right down to street level.  There is no getting acclimated to this thing!  You just want to go some where and boom, you are there. 

Now, just think about how quickly this little bit of technology has been handed to us to play around with.  I guess we went from the spy planes, to spy satellites to mapquest and now here we are zipping from my house to yours in a matter of seconds.  So think about this and tell me how it works.  I am sure there are megabillions of pictures that flash by, but how long will it be before the google satellite will be live on the scene?  We already have onstar and northstar and what else that can locate our car or our cell phone or whatever we have lost including our way.  Garmin was a lifesaver on my last trip, but it did have a lot of trouble getting me through one of the Roundabouts in Missouri.  Garmin knew exactly what she wanted, but I could not compute.  Finally she sent me around the mile and got me on the right highway  that way.

So now say I go for a walk.  Whoever wants to see at 7:26 exactly where I am.  Find Lou.  Can that be done in the near future?  I am betting on that.  Then the satellite up in the sky can follow me on my merry little way and I would never know it was watching me.  Granted this is a pretty expensive piece of equipment to play around with, but think of the ramifications of something like this.  We could lose our whole right to privacy, if you know what I mean.  google earth could just hover over my house and see every move I make and report right back to whomever is footing the bill.  I can see that little report now, "Lou took out the trash at 7:03.  She then went to the duck house and let the ducks out at 7:06."

Now I do not know about you, but this kind of scares me! I realize very few people have the resources to pay a satellite to follow some one around, but how many years ago was it that few people could afford the Garmin, or TomTom?  So let us think about this when we are out there marveling at technology.  Technology is only as good as the people running the satellite!

I am running out of time for the raising of the money!

Ok, There you have it.  I am 71% of the way there, but that means I am still short 29%.  Now as near as I can tell this blog has only raised $15.00  That is kind of sad, don't you think?  I know by your reactions to the AIDS Quilts that you are touched by this disease and my compassion for the people who suffer the devastation it brings.  This walk only comes around once a year and I really want to do good for these people.  Right now I am the #4 fundraiser and my team is #3, but that is not going to hold water here the end of this week.  There are some big money people out there who will blow us right out of the pond.

I would just like to show the fat cats that us little people can move a mountain if we need to.   By making a donation, and I do not care how small it is, you are telling me that you support me in my efforts on this cause.  Sometimes the road seems to go straight up hill and even a saint like me needs a little encouragement.  It comes this time in dollar bills. Course you can also pop up to Colorado Springs and cheer me on when my poor little body is walking up the side of a mountain in the high altitude where there is no oxygen and I am probably going to drop dead and then you will wish you had thrown $5.00 my way!

This is my last official plea and I would just be tickled to death to see your name on my list.  And I would go right through the roof if the guy in Canada or the one in Germany who reads me were to donate!  But I will take what I get!   And I will thank you from the bottom of my heart as the clients who benefit from these dollars also thank you. 

So good night to you and God be with us till we meet again!

Sixteen Annual Peace Flotilla, and a good time was had by all!

Last night at the Nature Center marked the 16th time that the little floats with candles in them were launched down the Mighty Arkansas River here in Pueblo, Colorado!  I had not been for a couple years and was just amazed at how much the event has improved.  This is all thanks to a little guy in our town named Doug Gale. You will meet Doug and his lovely wife Dorothy probably next week. I want to take pictures of them and do them full justice, because if God ever touched a man and said "Bring peace to the world and feed my people, it is this man."  I am inadequate to do justice to a man of this stature but I will give it my best shot!

But last night was the Peace Flotilla.  There were girl scouts, boy scouts, McClelland School children, Martin Luther King Center, and more floats then you could shake a stick at.  Someone said there were 83, but that was before I threw mine in the mix.  School kids are more organized.  They had blocks of wood about 10" square and their candle set in the middle.  Then they wrapped it up the sides with butcher paper which had been decorated with peace signs!  Very neat.  I wove some New Mexico Sunflowers into a circle and jammed some purple candles in the thing and called it good. Gave it to some sad looking kid who didn't have one to launch and made him all happy.  Made me happy too cause then I did not have to walk half a mile in the dark through the willows to the launch place!

Usually I run into lots of my friends at something like this, but they were sadly lacking last night. My pastor, Jeanine Lamb and another preacher friend, Steve Parke was there so I kinda hung with Jeanine.  Steve had his guitar and a friend or two and they were the music for the evening.  Gotta' love that Steve!  He does the folk songs and what ever it is us old hippies used to sing.  So they played and we sang at the top of our lungs, "If I had a Hammer!", "Where have all the Flowers Gone?", "This Land is Your Land, This Land is My Land." 

Now I need to interject here that I had a lovely visit with Pastor Lamb, which I shall call her out of deference to her vocation.  Yesterday she had given a sermon that really made me think that I may be a good person.  Not perfect by a long shot, but my Lord takes me like I am.  It is me he wants, just like I am so it is me he's going to get!  Aside from the preaching thing she is also a very interesting person. Oh, yeah, and a very good listener.  Knows when to nod and everything!

Then they released the Great Horned Owl into the night sky and launched the floats. These were then caught by the Sheriffs Dive Team right before they went over the rapids and returned to their owners.  I am a thinking that my little float with the 3 purple candles might have gotten by unnoticed in the dark and made it's way to the sea.  At least that is the dream I shall hold on to as I once more, in my idyllic world think that peace may actually be a reality some day.

This is Pastor Lamb!

Now it is back to High School at Nickerson, Kansas.

Well, I did digress there a little, but I am sure had I stayed on the ancestry I would never move on with this little tale.  Sooner or later you are going to know a very lot about me.  May not all be good either!

Ok, so now I am back in Nickerson and I must go to school, like it or not.  In Nickerson one class was as large as the whole high school at Plevna.  I came from a city where everyone knew everyone and now I was adrift in a sea of faces, very few of whom I had any idea who they were.  I very promptly fell in with the "wrong crowd".  Never knew there was such a thing, but there I was smack dab in the middle of one.

Now, you are probably going to wonder about this paragraph, but I swear it is all true.  At about this time Nickerson began building a new High School.  I think I went to the old building and the new building at the same time.  I think, but I am not sure.  I remember very little about the 2 1/2 years I spent at that school.  I remember that I flunked sewing (Home Economics), scraped by Algebra, English, History, Latin and Speech was a complete disaster.  I do remember that one of my new friend's dad made home brew!  As I recall, that was a tasty concoction.  I do recall sleeping through a lot of my classes.

I recall dating once or twice, but never dated anyone the second time.  I recall that Hutchinson Naval Air Station was still in operation during my Junior year and the neighbor girl married a guy from there and moved back to Indiana or some such place.    Her sister dated one of the "swabbies".  Not me man!  Those guys were way to smooth for this little hick, although I did meet one who was here from France and I let him kiss me! Mama mia!  That's a spicy meatball!  Also about that time something was going on overseas and several Polish guy wound up in our circle.  That is all I recall about that business.

Sorry to disappoint all ye who had faith in me, but this is the way it was.  I know there are those of you who recall every moment of your existence, but I am not sure of dates and events enough to elaborate.  I am pretty sure I was there and I am pretty sure I behaved fairly normally.  I do recall the "sock hops" at Memorial Hall (?) in Hutch and I recall a guy named Joey and winning several dance contests.  That Joey was into what ever we danced to back then.  I guess it was just plain old Rock and Roll. He and I were a perfect match and we had lots of fun together.  I do not recall ever kissing Joey and years later I learned why.  Seems he was the first gay boy I ever knew.  (You do realize names have been changed to protect the innocent?) Joey actually died from AIDS many, many years later, although this is all through the grapevine.  I never seen or talked to him again after our sock hop days, oh and the fiasco when he took me to Joyland in Wichita and I threw up on the Round Up.  We made a recording in a booth there and I kept that for many years.  Wonder where that went?

During my life at Nickerson High School there were several memorable events.  Elvis Presley hit the scene on the Ed Sullivan Show.  Oh, that was love at first sight for a lot of girlies!  My brother joined the Army, went to Germany and came home from Germany.  Momma finished secretary school and we moved to Hutchinson. 

I think my head is going to explode!  I better go let the ducks and geese out and do something mundane for a while!  Hopefully see you tomorrow!

It is me and my momma!!

Do you see those 2 youngsters up there?  The one on the left is me and the one on the right is my momma.  Course I am a lot younger there and from the way I am propped up on the pillows I appear to be about 7 or 8 months old.  But just look at that smile!  I was pretty happy about something.  Probably had just been fed and was nice and dry! This picture is in a silver frame that is absolutely beautiful so I am sure my momma loved me when she stuck me in there all those years ago.

Now take a look at momma!  I bet she is about 4 or 5.  Got her a puppy and is one happy little girl!  I think she might be setting on the porch of whatever general store they lived close to. I imagine it was in Plevna or perhaps Abbyville.  I do love those leggings and boots!  Wish I could get me a pair of them right now!!

I have a picture in my store on eBay of a girl herding a flock of geese and I swear it could be my mother.  Has the same leggings and boots, but has a head scarf on her head.  Remember those?  Well, most of you probably don't!

So I am going to take these two pictures out of the bottom of that box and put them here on the computer desk so I can just glance over there and remember my roots.  That way when I get to thinking I am nobody important I can remember that it was women like my momma and her momma and grandmother that made this country what it is today.  I still got those same genes pulsing through my body and through my children's blood.

So I will go out singing

"I am woman, hear me roar, in numbers to big to ignore!"

Josie Haas, beloved grandmother..........

My grandmother had the sweetest smile and the prettiest eyes.  When she smiled it was like every angel in Heaven was shining in her eyes.  They were the kindest eyes and when she looked at me and smiled it was like she looked deep into my soul and would always know what was there and it would always be good and kind because that is what she saw.  Oh, if I could have spent my lifetime in the shadow of that woman, so much would have been so different! I would never have had an impure thought or wanted anything but to go straight to Heaven and live there for eternity with my sweet, sweet grandma, Josie Haas.  How do I explain what happened next? 

How do I explain coming home that January day to find that Uncle Goll and Aunt Mabel had come and I did not live there anymore.  My great grandma Hatfield was being whisked off to Coldwater, Kansas, Grandma was in the Broadacre Nursing Home, and I now lived in Nickerson, Kansas.  Aunt Lola and Uncle Alvin would  "dispose of the property" because Grandma had fallen to yet another stroke.  How quickly my life had changed.  How completely and utterly devastating life can be for a 15 year old girl.

There was no time for the goodbyes we always need to say.  Grandma Hatfield patted me on the head, Aunt Mabel smiled at me and Aunt Lola looked at me with her blank stare.  Mother took my little box of clothes to the car and that chapter of my life was over.  No more Dean and Dale, or Janet, or Miss Ghormely.  Slam, finis, and so long Plevna, Kansas.  Two weeks later my little grandma with the very sweet smile was buried in a grave beside her dear husband.

It was several years later that Grandma Hatfield was buried at the age of 104 in Abbyville, Kansas.  Many years later, when my own dear mother went to her heavenly reward, my sister handed me a kind of long white box and explained that it should be mine because I was the only one who had any idea what it contained.  Inside, nestled on white tissue paper was a golden braid of hair.  It was the braid that was cut from my grandma's head the night they took her to the nursing home.  It would have been too much work to take care of her hair, so they just cut it off and gave it to mother.

All the grandma's and grandpa's, aunts and uncles and most of the cousins are gone now.  All the mothers and fathers, one of the sister's and the only brother I ever had are gone.  They are slowly taking their places in my memory bank, but the one who shall always remain at the pinnacle is my dear sweet grandma, Josie Haas.

School starts at Plevna, Kansas and I am there!

Catty cornered from Grandma's house lived the Smith family.  I do not know how many girls there were in that family, I just know there were a lot of them.  I remember Mr. Smith had one brown eye and one blue eye.  I also remember they had a television set.  I could go over and visit them, but I could not set in the room where the television was and I could not look at it when I walked past.  I was very good and did as I was told.  I did not look at that television except once just to see what it was.

I wish I had pictures, but I do not.  If I did they would be black and white snap shots and they would be fuzzy.  But true to my word school did start the next week and I was there!  I started my Freshman year at Plevna High School  I was in heaven.  I do not know why.  The whole High School was 40 kids.  The first crack out of the box, I was picked to be in the Junior Play!

Now in tiny schools like this, things like that happen.  The Juniors had picked the play they wanted to do and there were not enough Juniors to fill the roles, so since I was a hick and used the word "ain't" a lot and this play was about hillbilly's, I got elected.  I was rather impressed that I was in the Junior Play, but I was scared to death.  See,this is how that worked.  I could read all I wanted as long as I was reading the Bible.  No books, no book reports, no reading play books, only the Bible.  So memorizing my lines was a real challenge.  Somehow I did get them learned and the play went off without a hitch so I was happy about that.  It even helped my English grade.


 The box lunch social was another small town tradition. We all had to bring a box with something to eat in it and then each one was auctioned off.  The buyer ate the lunch with whoever made the lunch.  We all lived in mortal terror that no one would buy ours.  Mine was bought by the coach of the basket ball team, so I was good to go.

But horror of all horrors for my first year of high school was Home Economics.  My teacher was (I forgot her name!) my mother's Nemesis from her high school days.  I flat out flunked cooking!  Not a bad grade, a fail grade.  A big fat "F".  All that woman had to do was glare at me and my knees turned to jelly. A quivering mass of jello, I tell you.  I would love to know the history of those two women, but it was enough to know that they did not like each other in the least.

Small towns are really an experience in and unto themselves.  The whole high school went carolling for Christmas.  One of the teachers made hot cocoa in the gymnasium.  Somebody brought us an apple.  Togetherness in a small town! 

Tomorrow I will tell you how my Freshman year ended, but I am too tired tonight to do it justice.  Just show up tomorrow and I will fill you in on that.

Oh, quick Eric is going to beat me!

I heard through the grapevine that Eric has some donors that are going to cause me to be dumped in the dust.  I am so sorry, but you know how competitive I am and if Eric beats me I am going to be devastated!  It just dawned on me that I only have 10 days left to come up with another $500.00.  Now when we started this venture  $1000.00 did not seem like much money, but now that the deadline is coming up I am starting to get very nervous. 

See it is a matter of pride with me.  I know I have a lot of friends and I was pretty much counting on them to bail my boney butt out.  Now I do not know where my friends have gotten off to.  I had a couple of the chat room girls donate, but none of the guys.  Hey, I thought they loved me!  I know I have family and friends out there reading this.  Help!

You see Eric is a little skinny, really cute kid with these curls and I can not just be defeated by a pretty face!  There is no amount to large or too small.  Just throw me any kind of a bone here!  Look here is my widget and everything!  I love you.  You know I love you!  And this is a very worthy cause.

Over sexed tarantula's loose on the Mesa.

Ok, I am making a special posting here, you know, deviating from my regular modus operands.  I read this in the newspaper, so I know it is true.  The Tarantula's are breeding out here on the Mesa and they are not one bit timid about it. either!

I have lived on this Mesa out here since 1982.  In all that time I have seen 2 Tarantula's near my house.  One wandered in and a son-in-law carried the other in the house.  Needless to say he also carried it out at my gentle urging.  You should know going in to this conversation that I do have a tad bit of a case of Arachnophobia.  This means the bigger the spider the more screaming and crying you will hear from this little body.

Now the article in the paper gave us a lot of useful information including the fact that it takes a male 5 years to mature.  I did not actually read the article because had I read it, I would have had nightmares for sure.  I do not want to read about them.  I do not want to think about them.  I only want to know why they are invading my space and I find it is because they are mating.  The mere fact that they are mating causes me to think there will be more of them.  I am about half way smart here on the breeding thing, having had 5 children of my own.

Now what I am wondering here is this; what shall I do if I see a breeding pair?  Shall I cheer them on in hopes of lots of babies?  Should I turn my back and give them privacy?  Should I stand there and extol the glories of safe sex?  I am thinking I wish I did not know how to read.  Or perhaps the Chieftain could write about something that does not cause visions of very hairy legs to come to my mind.  I am hoping this mating thing does not go on much longer.  I am actually praying for a hard freeze.  My life has lots of little turmoils as I scurry along towards the end of it and I can see if I must be on the lookout for giant spiders that I am not going to be able to watch where I am going and I could hurt my little self.

So, where ever you are tonight, be glad you are not out here in Colorado in the midst of this thing going on here.  And you might want to get me a room ready at your house, cause I think I may be moving on very soon!

Link for the AIDS WALK!!

Ok, here is my link so you can support me in the AIDS Walk in the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, Colorado on October 9, 2010.

There is no donation too large or too small.  Every nickle is appreciated and all the money Eric and I raise will stay right here in Pueblo for our clients.  Know how much I appreciate every thing I am allowed to do for these people whom I love so much!

Kisses and hugs to everyone of you! XOXOXOX

High School at Plevna, Kansas with Grandma and Great Grandma!

Well, there is nothing more scary in the whole world of young people than the day they leave the secure little nest of Elementary School and venture onto the high school campus.  True it is only 7 blocks away and it is the same kids you have gone to school with all your life, but none-the-less, it was a real heart stopper for me.

I did not start High School in my Beloved Nickerson, I started in Plevna, Kansas.  The entire city population was 112.  There were outlying farms, but I lived in the city proper with Grandma Haas, age 71 and Great Grandma Hatfield, age 98.  Grandma was rather crippled up from a stroke and Great Grandma took care of her.  My job was to help.

Now, I don't know if you ever lived with 2 very old ladies when you were a delicate flower of 15, but there is a lot of adjusting that needs to be done and guess who is going to do it!  First was the sleeping arrangements.  They had a bedroom with a big bed. That was theirs.  Upstairs were 2 bedrooms with beds and all, but I could not sleep up there because I would be too far away and something might happen and what if some one came in and kidnapped me?  So I slept in the downstairs living room on the couch right by the front door, which was never locked.  Ok, Grandma's!

Next I must learn to crochet.  They had a radio, a big wooden thing with a round top.  That was for listening to the stock market and futures reports at noon.  For no other reason was it ever turned on.  It goes without saying that there was no television, so crochet it should be.  With my little hook and size 10 crochet thread I very quickly learned to make a "chain".  That was good enough for me, but not the grandma's. 

After my first chain was about 10 feet long I say the wisdom of learning other stitches.  I was taught the sc (single crochet, dc (double crochet), hdc (half double crochet), tr (treble crochet), dtr (double treble crochet), and then I was on my way.  Soon I had a round crocheted thingy to which I added chains and made loops.  At the end I crocheted around the outside with green thread and that was it.  I had made my first Pineapple Doily! Great Grandma then boiled sugar and water and put the doily in there.  It was then set to dry and the ruffle shaped.  It was a work of art and my first endeavor in the fine art of needlework.

Plevna had a bank, filling station, phone company, post office, mechanic, the school, and a General Store.  Hinshaw's General Store  was the hub of the metropolis, needless to say.  When Grandma sent me to the store she sent me with a handkerchief with the money tied in the corner.  After all it was almost a full block! It was always just the right amount.  I would walk in, tell Mr. or Mrs. Hinshaw that Grandma Hatfield had sent me, hand him the hanky and wait.  He would retrieve what ever it was, untie the hanky, take the money and had me the hanky and the item.  I was then trusted to walk home with both.

There was lots of stuff in that store. Light farm  equipment like rakes, shovels, towels, a few pairs of overalls, socks, beans and crackers in a barrel, and of course groceries.  I went one time with Aunt Mabel and she bought a towel for me to do textile painting on for momma for Christmas.  It had laid on the shelf so long it had lines that never came out, but it was new and it was for momma.  As I recall Aunt Mabel helped me paint a beautiful Iris.  Another form of needlework or crafts or something.

The most important part about the Hinshaws was their grandsons!  They were my age and they were twins and I would go to school with them when school started.  Dale was very light complected, with red hair and freckles and a little on the pudgy side.  Dean was  small and wiry, and darker complected with dark brown hair, very thin.  If you met them you would never dream they were related in any way.  First lesson on twins.  Also my first childhood crush, but I won't tell you which one it was! It actually lasted way over a week into the school year.

The highlight of the summer was when momma sent 2 friends of the family to pick me up and take me back to Nickerson for a few days before school started.  They roared into town on their Triumph Motorcycles and I was in Heaven!  I loved those bikes and the thought of the 20 mile trip to Nickerson was enough to make me walk on cloud 9 for weeks after.  There is just nothing like a Triumph.  Harley's are great and I love the rumble of the motor, which I understand is patented, and I own Harley stock today, but a Triumph was the sign of the times.  It symbolized youth, and freedom, and the open road.  Ah, I digress.

Next week I could start school!  And that will be tomorrow, so see you then. Be sure that my short time at Plevna High School is not at all what one would expect.  So see you then cause you are going to learn about my roots.

I am upstairs at Nickerson, Kansas, Elementary School.

When you left me last I was in the fourth grade and Mrs. Howe was by teacher, but time has passed and I am now in the fifth grade.  That was a big promotion cause now I got the extreme pleasure of going upstairs to class.  That was very scary that first day as I had never been upstairs before.  Miss Swenson was my teacher and she was so sweet.  She is the one who discovered I had a penchant for writing, especially poetry.  She even met with momma to get permission to submit one of my poems to Jack and Jill magazine. I was so proud.  Well, yeah, I still remember to this day, so it must have made an impression!  I do not know what went on with that, but it was none the less an honor. My greatest joy my whole life was always a blank sheet of paper and a pencil.  Still is. The kids sometimes just give me note books, college ruled and they are all over the house!

Fifth grade was where reality set in.  A classmate lost her father in a farm accident.  Miss Swenson met a man and married him.  A new girl came to our school named Mavis.  Course the kids had to tease her and it was then I realized I had compassion in my soul for my fellow humans! Mavis became my friend and I protected her from the slings and arrows of fellow classmates. Then she moved away.

On to sixth grade and Miss Lauver.  Miss Lauver was a spinster.  While I knew what that was from the dictionary I was never really sure of all the implications.  She was very strict as I recall, but not mean.  It was in sixth grade I found out what happens when you take the internal workings out of a crank telephone, grab the wire and have someone spin the crank!  Hard lesson to learn especially for a little girl! Miss Lauver lived with her older sister who was also named Miss Lauver.  They came to the house one time to see momma. Don't know why.

Seventh grade brought Mr. Schriber.  That may not be spelled right, but he was a wiry little fellow and cute as a button with his curly hair.  He also was the coach.  Back then teachers could do that.  All of us girls worked very hard.  In seventh grade I learned the difference between and the commonalities of Nature and Nurture or Hereditary vs. Environment.  I am still in a quandary over that one.  Lot to be said for both sides.

Eighth grade and Mr. Bollinger.  He also owned the movie theatre. Never let us in free though.  My best friends that year were Jay Moore and Owen Lentz.  We used to stay in over recess and draw dream cars on the blackboard.  They did not know I was a girl but I knew they were boys, but that was about as far as that went.

No account of grade school in Nickerson would be complete without me telling you about the music teacher. Her name was Miss Barkiss.  Since she went to our church I am not sure exactly when she married the Principal's son and became Mrs. Houston. But while she was Miss Barkiss the woman tried tirelessly to coax a "c" note out of my tiny throat.  I could no way in hell carry a tune in a bucket.  But I must send accolades out to the dear woman who is no doubt singing with the angels in heaven, for trying. I now do the country songs around the yard and house at the top of my lungs, and am happy as can be with my never change tones method of what is known loosely as "caterwauling!"

And so I bid adieu to my childhood days at Nickerson Grade School.  The halls are froth with memories, some good; some bad, but all mine.  They helped shape me into who I am and I guess that is the environment part that comes into play. I guess it was inevitable that I then went to high school and I am going to tell you about that and grandma and my career as an actress hopefully tomorrow.

For now I will put my little ghosts back to bed and get on with the business of living while there is still breathe in the old body.  I have a lot of blank pages to fill before I fly away!

All the seeds of yesterday are the trees of tomorrow.  Lou Mercer

And now to Mrs. Howe, fourth grade teacher, Nickerson, Kansas.

Oh, I promised you yesterday I would get to Mrs. Howe.  Maybe it was a promise more to myself than to you, but nonetheless it shall be fulfilled today.  I think I dreamed about that woman last night.  Woke up in  a cold sweat for some odd reason. Usually only do that if there is a vampire in the room.

Anyway, just picture me as a tender little child of 8 years old.  We had no Kindergarten in our small town of Nickerson, Kansas, so we started right off in first grade at age 5.  The first grade classroom was the largest and we surmised that a lot of kids went in there and never came out.  That teacher was Miss Doughno (however you spell it). So sweet and pushed us in the swing and was just the loveliest lady,

Then we went to second grade and there was Mrs. Breece. A very nice lady, but demanded we learn to spell and we must now start cursive and all kinds of stuff. She was so proud of her little charges. 

Third grade and on to Mrs. Holmes.  Ah, the woman had the smile of an angel! Skin as soft as rose petals.  She was big on hygiene.  Every morning we had to swear, under penalty of death, that we had washed our face, combed our hair, brushed our teeth and she made us hold out our hands for inspection and they had better be clean!  I loved that  woman with every fiber of my being.

And then fourth grade and I swear I break out in a cold sweat when I remember Mrs. Howe!  Mrs. Howe was the smallest of all my teachers. Also the most wrinkled, had the hardest eyes, the biggest ruler and walked on cat feet up and down the aisles between the desks.  Being the shortest kid in class I always had my desk right in the front.  Right under her hawk like stare. I did not mind that.  What kept me in mortal terror was when she started prowling the aisles when we were doing our work.  I never knew exactly where she was and was terrified to look.

Her favorite thing was to creep softly up behind me (us) and if my pencil was not moving, she turned that ruler on edge and fwacked me right on top of the head.  Ah, Sweet Jesus! That still brings stars to my eyes today.  That is the sharpest, piercing est pain in the whole world.  Try it some time on yourself. Be sure you are wearing a Depends.  I am pretty sure that qualifies today as child abuse.

Of course there was the "hold out your hand" one that was given for minor infractions, like breathing.  I could handle that as long as I held my hand palm up and the ruler was flat.  Did not like it when the ruler was on edge and my tiny little knuckles were the object of her attention.

Not everyone suffered her wrath.  She had her little pets.  These kids were luckily the prodigy of the wealthier farmers in town.  I learned very early in life that rich people could do no wrong, but if your mother was a cleaning lady you were doomed from the "git go".  Now to the highlight of the fourth grade!

Bathroom break at recess.  Enter Beth and her popcorn ball swinging loosely in a scarf.  Exit little me. Run for the playground.  Enter Mrs. Howe with Beth and a soggy popcorn ball.  Seems while I was already on the playground that popcorn ball fell in the stool.  Beth explained to Mrs. Howe that I had in a jealous rage over her having one and me not, I had grabbed it and thrown it in there. It was down hill from there.

First came the call to my mother.  Then the ruler on top of the head.  Then the principal and there were rumors he kept a rubber hose to beat you with.  I must apologize profusely to Beth, which I did and I looked her right in the eye and she flinched.  She knew the truth and so did I.

Back in those days report cards had a place on the back for "Teachers Comments" and then a place for the parent to sign.  I still remember what she wrote, "Louella does her work, but she does not play well with others."  I told momma I did not do that, but Mrs. Howe was a respected teacher.  Beth had a rich daddy.

Now, here is the best part, Karma.  Over Christmas vacation Mrs. Howe got a thorn in her large intestine.  For almost a week we did not know if she would even live.  We prayed incessantly for her both at the church and me at home.  I did not want her to die.  Just wanted her to like me.  To make a long story short, neither of the two things happened.

If there are any of Mrs. Howe's relatives still out there I would like to say to you, she was a very good teacher and I learned a lot from her tutelage.  That was a time when it was alright to know which side of the bread the butter was on.  I have long ago forgiven her, but never forgotten.

To Beth;  If I ever run across you I will give you a popcorn ball. Probably neither of us will have teeth enough to eat it, but it will be symbolic.  You probably don't even remember the incident and that is good.  I remember for both of us.

Every thing that happened inside those walls and since had made me the woman I am today.  It was a time of poverty, greed and survival.  It was a time when child abuse went on behind closed doors and when the adult in the situation was always right and the kids always suffered.  Lots of kids did without back then and I just thank God that this has all changed.

And to all the little kids at Nickerson, Kansas Elementary school, I got a lot more memories and today was fun!  I may write on some more of these memories. If you went to Nickerson back then drop me a line and we can compare notes. Tell me some of your experiences and we can light up this blog! Jerry, if you are still out there I lost all your emails you sent me way back then.  Lost your address and all. 

I sometimes have random insomnia so what I do is in my mind I walk the walk home from school to our little house. I remember the names of the people who lived in the houses. Then I remember the classmates.  They say you can never go home and they are right, but sometimes in the middle of the night I like to make a quick visit and it makes me realize that little Louella Bartholomew did indeed become a vital member of society and now can "play well with others!"

Hey look I got that widget!

Now I realize this widget is not where it belongs, but it is here. By the time I get to the AIDS Walk on October 9, I may actually have it where it is supposed to go.  Or not.  For the moment I can bask in the glory of success! Which brings me to another point, but you could see this one coming couldn't you?

I can remember way back when one of my teachers, Mrs. Howe to be exact, told us about computers. I am torn at this moment because I so want to tell you about Mrs. Howe and our mutual disrespect for each other and how I learned about computers. So here is what I will do, I will mark it down in my little black book to write about Mrs. Howe and I will now tell you of the computer learning experience.

At that time I was but a wee little girl in the 4th grade and Mrs. Howe was our teacher.  Also at that time an adding machine was about as good as you could get for use in your mathematical equations which consisted of plus and minus. They were very heavy and awkward and had a handle on the side which you pulled down each time you made an entry.  So Mrs. Howe started telling us about new things that were being made and they would add, subtract, multiply and divide. She said they were very big and could fill a whole room and put off a lot of heat.  Little did I realize that this was the precursor to this thing I now type on.

I had a nephew, not the stoned one, who told me how often knowledge doubles and it amazed me to see that he was correct in his figures.  Just think back to 50 years ago, which a lot of you can remember very well.  1960 probably the 10 key was in everyday usage.  Typewriter was a big awkward thing that set on top of the desk or electric ones were probably coming into being.  When Sam brought home his first Word Processor, about 1984,  I was dumb founded..  That was way to complicated for me. Fast forward to today.

I can set here on this thing in the comfort of my home and type this blog, hit a button and in 3 seconds or less some guy in Germany has it translated and on his screen reading every word in German and you know I did not do that! Knowledge is indeed doubling, but rather than every five years now it is about the speed of sound..

I remember when I was getting my accounting degree 30-35 years ago we still did the columns with a pencil and added them in our head.  Ok, I had a calculator I used to double check, but we are talking 30 years ago, people. Now we enter it all on the computer which puts it in the proper accounts, issues a profit and loss and figures how much tax you owe.

I was very near the top of my class and the Dean knew me on a first name basis, but when I got tangled up with these computers I figured I was done for. Almost was, but I figured this is how it is, so I better figure it out.  Now  I have 2 kids that look at me with glazed eyes when I start talking html, bytes, and things like that. My oldest son works with them as a vocation. Bret uses them to download music and Debbie is knowledgeable. Other daughter plays games on hers.

So the world moves on and I shudder to think what new things I am going to have to learn before I can poke the toes skyward and fly away.

Love, lust, or indigestion?

http://www.firstgiving.com/loumercer



As some of my loyal readers know,  earlier this year I took my first tremulous steps back in the dating world.  Seven years of widowhood and I thought perhaps it might be nice to have someone to actually talk to, go out to eat with, and do some of the things that "couples" do.

So in typical Lou fashion, I ventured forth into the world of the older single woman.  Now I am here to tell you, that is  nowhere a human should go!  It is very scary. At first it appears very harmless; a coffee date.  Coffee is good.  Then conversation.  Conversation is good. From there it is all down hill.  Got to do it all over again, and again, and again.  Then you got to go on picnics and set there eating cold food thinking of all the things you should be home doing.

Then that whole conversation thing becomes a real bore. How many times can you smile through the tale of "back when I had my own company and I was so successful..."?  Finally you graduate to the hand holding, gazing- in- the- eyes thing and that is when you are close enough to see the nose and ear hair and believe me, that is a real turn off! As if our taste in music, Classical vs. Country; movies, Musicals vs. Cheech and Chong; food, French vs. Red hot scorch your ass Mexican; weren't enough to doom any chance at a relationship!

So guess what?  I am not looking for love, I had that.  The idea of love is wonderful and there are movies full of it and it can move mountains and I think that is just great.  I love the idea of love, and I think it is probably great for a lot of people, but not for me.

Now the lust thing.  That is a whole 'nother kettle of worms by itself.  I hear it is great, just not my thing.  I am too old, too wrinkled and way to arthritic to think I want to try and appear sexy to some old guy who is too old, too wrinkled and too arthritic to appear sexy to me. So let that one just lay there and simmer!

Now to the Indigestion part of this equation!  I can do that and I can do it very well.  I love the Green Chile, Jalapeno and the Habanero.  Now if you think I can not get a good dose of indigestion out of that, you are sadly mistaken!  And you all know when indigestion strikes, love and lust are both left laying alongside the road!  Things of the past, so to speak.

So yesterday I bopped up Union looking for the antique spinning wheel that matches mine.  Got invited to have coffee with some young guy (Which did wonders for the ego!), thanks but no thanks, and then came home. 

This warning to all men out there:

Still got it; ain't gonna' use it!  Eat your heart out!

Off to church in my new tee shirt.

http://www.firstgiving.com/loumercer

Got to put that in first thing everyday so you be sure and get the message.  I am almost ready to go to church and I am going to wear this new tee shirt the kiddies brought me from Washington.  It is black and it says "I am right 98% of the time.  Who gives a crap about the other 3%!"

Isn't it amazing how quickly our children adjust to our personalities?  I think this boy spent a few years thinking I was a bit flaky, but even at that , he snapped out of it a lot sooner than his sisters did.  My oldest daughter was 24 years old before she came to me and said, " You know I used to think you were not very bright and not at all wise to the ways of the world.  I am truly amazed how smart you have gotten in just the last few months!"  Way to go Debbie.  She now has a son who is figuring out that she is a little smarter then he thought. 

Motherhood is an amazing journey and I fear it is one I shall never fully understand nor completely appreciate.  Don't get me wrong, I would in no way ever hope that I had not undertaken this journey, but if I had even one inkling of what lay ahead I think I would have paid more attention to my own dear mother.  Hell, I would have fallen at her knee and never taken my ears off of her!  But now the best part of all.  I have learned to accept my failings as a mother because of something a therapist told me "You did the best you could with the knowledge you had at the time."

There!  Now you know I have been to therapy or have I?  Got some high class friends you know and I might have just gotten a bit of free advice.  You do know I was not the perfect mother, but I tried. At least this tee shirt shows this particular kid figured momma out way early in the game!

Have a good one and try to remember "You can not sprinkle showers of happiness on other people without getting a few drops on yourself".

AIDS Walk in the Garden is coming up and I need money!!

Ok, here is the deal!  I done signed up for the Walk in the Garden which is sponsored by a whole bunch of businesses, but here is what you need to know, the link will get you where you need to go to add to my fund.  I have my very own team,  well if 2 people are a team.  Eric and I are going to go for it.  Our team is named Loosey Goosey and I am depending on you people to help me out here!

We are going to walk in the beautiful Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, Colorado on October 9, 2010.  Oh, I sure hope the weather is nice and the snakes are all asleep.  I do not know how far we have to go, but however far it is you know I am going to finish.  Never left a job half done yet!

I have been trying to get a widget on here for 2 days and as you see I did fail miserably at that little task, but here is a link.  Click on it and you will hopefully go to my page that raises money.  All our team donations goes to Pueblo Clients. 

Ok, gotta dash, but I will be back begging again!  Might as well donate and get it over with so we can talk about something else!

I am waiting!

http://www.firstgiving.com/loumercer

The Llama's will trick you if you do not watch out for them.

 

There you see the Llama next door.  Ah, the picture of innocence. Just gazing over the fence at me while below is the New Mexico Sunflower in full bloom.  It is exceptionally colorful this fall as the nights are very cool and the days very hot, which combined, makes brilliant colors!

 

Here is another shot of the dear Llama.  I see it is a little closer now and continuing to make eye contact.  I feel so special to be able to bond with plants and animals this way.  People in the cities do not have this opportunity.  I will just stand here a while and gaze at the picture before me.

Do you see that!  The Llama is eating my flowers!  Caught in the act, no less.  Caught by me as I stand gazing in admiration.  This is the same Llama that ate my asparagus last Spring.  The same one who has topped out my Lilacs and Red bud tree.  Seems he snacked on a Clematis Vine also.  So much for serenity in the country!

Now the fun part I have to tell you.  If you click on any of my pictures they will get big and you can actually see the detail, like Llama Lips curling around the sunflower!  I just love this Google Blog of mine!

Words of wisdom for this day
Good fences make good neighbors!

So just what is this thing called retirement and how is it different than working myself to death?

As I was digging in the little area behind the house, with sweat pouring off the little pointed head and my back in spasms, it dawned on me that I am now officially retired and am enjoying my leisure time? Question mark is the proper mark there, because, I am not sure this is how it is supposed to be.

Seems like retirement should involve some sort of sitting around and having naps and things like that. As I recall, I worked very hard the first 50 years to raise kids, pay into my Social Security, establish myself as a respected member of society and gloried in planning all the things I would do when I retired.

Ok, so here I am all retired and while it is mostly pretty good, there are a few drawbacks I did not forsee. The homestead is paid for, but there are the taxes, insurance, utilities, upkeep and things like that which amount to as much as I would pay for a place in town. So, while the Social Security and small pension do cover the necessities, there is always the expensive of wanting to have an actual life!

This entails having a small income on the side which is derived by doing something to make a few extra bucks. Earning of the few extra bucks means missing the nap. Then there is the matter of the grunt work around the place. So I can either do it myself or earn more extra bucks to pay someone else to do it for me. There went that other nap!

Assisted Living Facility has already told me that if I check in there, they have a no duck or goose policy. Imagine that! So guess I am going to remain here on the farm and enjoy this thing called retirement until I work myself into an early grave, but guess what! I am not alone on this and the only ones who seem to be doing the nap things are the ones who planned way better than I did!

But, you know what? I would not have it any other way. While the sitting on the decks waving off the bees and the taking of the nap looks really good sometimes, mostly I like the active life and earning and spending of the almighty dollar! So while I may not see you on the golf course, I will see you when I am jogging down the lane and you pass by in your big fine car. I am the one who smiles and waves! I am the nutty one!

It is a beautiful day today, but I may get frost bit this morning.

Well, I see this thing is not going to work with me today! Don't you just hate it when you belly up to the computer and it just looks at you with it's blank screen? I started typing and nothing was there. Finally I did the html thing and told it I wanted black as my color. It told me my html was incorrect, but here I am! It is not good dealing with anything smarter than I am that thinks it wants whatever I do not. So now to the subject at hand.

Here we are in the middle of September. The fair is over, the peaches are canned, the pickles are made and I am on strike. I have not made saurkraut, canned tomatoes, nor made hot salsa that is so popular around this neck of the woods. I have priced Pueblo Chiles, but I have not gotten any further in the process, nor do I think I will.

I live alone except for the boy and the girl who are never home and when they are they do not eat the same fare that I consume. They are carnivores and while I do on occasion partake of the flesh, it is mostly the vegetable and fruit stuff that finds it's way through my system. At some point in time I decided I would like to live forever. I have since rethought that also.

Back to the subject at hand for I do most definitely digress. I love Spring. Hope springs eternal at that time of year. I dearly love summer and I don't mind sweating. Do not like it running in my eyes, but other than that, I am good to go. But Fall! I know when fall is here and it is here. I go out early in the morning and the air smells different. The air feels different. There is a feeling in a fall morning that only experiencing it can discribe. It is crisp. I do not have words in my small vocabulary to properly convey to you a fall morning.

So you need to do this; Arise early tomorrow morning. It is 6:22 here now and the sky is just beginning to lighten. It is not quite time for the sun to start streaking the horizon, but I am sure it is close. There is a breeze stirring the cottonwood outside my window and fall is in the air! Very soon Jack Frost will start sprinkling my car window with his little white covering and it will be official. I am predicting the first official frost about the time of my birthday, so watch for it.

But in the meantime I am going to leave the air conditioner uncovered, leave the plants outside, and think about maybe doing some more canning. Who knows. This is Colorado and it is nothing to see a 50 degree fluctuation on any given day. It is a wonder we have not all cracked!

And what is it like where you are hanging your hat today? Amy, in Florida is probably working up a sweat already,huh? Slow down, girl, it will be there tomorrow! Get my bed ready cause I am thinking on doing some traveling south this Winter!

It is always darkest before the dawn, or Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition!

Ever been really sad?  Ever felt like some one had just jerked the rug out from under you and kicked you in the gut?  Not a very good feeling and it usually takes  a couple days to get back on your feet and remember the lessons your momma taught you.  But first you have those few days to get through. 

When faced with one of these situations, the first instinct is to flee.  But when you see the storm clouds gathering and you know it is about to dump on you there is one place to go and that is to bed.  Always safe there.  Sure it is safe, but it is very lonely. It is very lonely and the night is very long. It is the fear of the unknown that brings on this phenomena known as "What is going to happen?"  How many different scenarios are there? What if...what if...what if?  And then it is morning.

Morning and we now have to get up and face the day and the "what if" of last night.  But the best part is that today you find out just what it is that you will be facing.  If it is a medical issue, you get an answer and then make plans to deal with the ramifications.  Water bill not paid?  Take care of it during business hours.  A test at school? Should have studied, but now you will know just how much you did remember.  Death of some one or relationship ending (which I equate as being one and the same and should be handled in the same way)?  So we venture off and make our "final arrangements" either at the funeral home or the coffee shop.  During the former we set a final time to bury our beloved and during the latter we just grab the shovel and throw a little more dirt at each other, establish that the blame is definitely not ours and walk away.

In any case, the second night is easier to deal with because we have done something constructive.  We know that tomorrow we will see the fruits of our labor coming to fruition. Going to start our chemo tomorrow.  Water is on so you can wash that pile of dishes.  Failed cooking class so now maybe you can choose a new career, like you could be a lawyer!  Put one body in the ground and kick the other to the curb! 

And so the third night comes and you are exhausted.  Dishes are done, new career on the horizon, and you got a lot of time now to do the things you have been putting off!

I been writing in second person, but I shall now change to first person because this is a true story.  Stay with me here and learn from the master!

 It is his loss, cause he lost the best thing that ever was in hislife and I know it!  He will no doubt realize it in time and that is when I can set back and reap the fruits of my labor!  The Good Lord does know what he is doing at all times, just takes me a little time to figure it out.  But Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition, there is a new day dawning and I am going to grab that sucker with both hands, look back on my latest learning experience in life's little journey and be a better woman for having lived through that one!  I am a very unique individual and I have a lot to offer this world.  I am better than just another pretty face I am the essence of woman and I will survive!  I learned all this from someone I shall lovingly call "Jade"!

The ugly head of my political beliefs has once more reared it's head!

I remember way back when I was a kid, my mother told me something I did not understand, but through the years has became the backbone of my beliefs.  Mama told me, "Do not ever discuss religion or politics with your friends."  I have always carried this in the back of my mind. 

I do not discuss religion.  Everyone who knows me knows what my thoughts are on the subject and they know where to find me every Sunday morning.  Very few venture to find fault with the fiber that keeps my world in balance and for that I am grateful!

But now the politics is an entirely different matter.  Under no conditions am I allowed to keep those thoughts to myself, so let me tell you how it is.  I apparently am a "Bleeding Heart Liberal and would like to see the country turned into socialistic society and my children and grand children saddled with a debt they can never pay, ..." and I do not remember the rest of the conversation because it was like a Gatling gun going off in my brain. You may think those statements are a tad bit radical, but since I could not get a word in edgewise I fully intend to set here in the solitude of my office and tell anyone who is interested just what I do believe in and why.  no interruptions and if you get tired of reading there is a little x up in the right hand corner that will silence me!

 1.  I believe in truth, justice and the American Way, just like Superman!
 2.  I believe in life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness as long as I do not infringe on someone else's happiness.
 3.  I believe we should all have a chance at the golden ring.
 4.  I believe I should be able to walk down the street without being intimidated by someone bigger than me.
 5.  I believe I should be safe in my home and be able to protect myself and my family by whatever means.
 6.  I do not want  my son to choke and gasp for breathe because he is not covered by insurance because he has a pre-existing condition of asthma.
 7.  I believe my tax dollars should go for something besides bullets to kill some one in another country when my own country is in turmoil and people are dying in the streets here from hunger, stray bullets, drugs and the endless litany of ills and woes.
 8.  I believe children should be safe to grow up in their own homes and that child abusers should be stoned.
 9.  Drugs should be illegal, oh wait, they are!  I believe laws should be enforced.
10. I don't think animals should be mistreated.
11. I believe you and I were created equal, regardless of the color or our skin, male or female, short or tall, gay or straight, rich or poor.
12. I believe the government will do what the government does and if this administration screws it up, another one will screw it up worse. That is how it has always been and that is how it will always be and I am not personally responsible for what Bush, or Obama or anyone did  or will do. You may holler all you want it will not change a damn thing!

So you can call me a "Bleeding Heart Liberal", but here you have what I think and and now I have said it myself.  You go to your church and I'll go to mine, but we'll both walk along together........or not.

Disclaimer: If I have offended anyone with this missive, I apologize. Try to remember that I did have that rule about not discussing politics or religion and I made the rule for a reason. So, leave me a comment, call...or not.

How Beulah, Colorado was saved by the dairy farmers.

                                                                             This is a totem right in front of the volunteer fire station in beautiful Beulah, Colorado.  The sign on it reads "This tale might have been very short had it not been about a cow."  This is located across the street from the Beulah Post Office.  It is also located in front of the fire station and the man who carved this is in a small room behind the fire station.  These people make really good use of space, I'm here to tell you.

This is a full shot of the totem as it stands.  It is hard to see the little cottage on the top and the intricate work that went into that!  You are actually going to need to jump in the car and drive on out there and take a look.  Call me if you need directions!                                                                

The next picture shows a close up of the cow.  You can also see a few peas in the pod there, although I do not know what they symbolize.  I can also see a goose that seems to have laid some rather golden eggs.

Now, I lost my notes on this, but I am going to try to relate the story to you briefly as it was told to me. It seems several years back the beautiful mountain community of Beulah found itself in the throes of a drought.  There was no rain and no signs of rain.  The snow melt had already found it's way down the mountain and as you all know, water does not run uphill.

People were hauling water for drinking as best they could but how would you like to try to haul all your water you use everyday up the hill and try to store it?  Ah, to the rescue came the dairy farmers! They had the means to haul milk to market and the return trip could be carrying water!  Of course, they had to make a few extra trips, but that is how the dairy farmers saved the town of Beulah from extinction.  Seems like I recall reading about this after I had relocated to Colorado, so I know it was in the last 30 years. 

So this work was commissioned by folks in Beulah in honor of the dairy farmers.  This totem was created by John Clay who has made several of these totems around the Beulah area. John gave me a map of the locations of some of his art work in the area and if you are interested just leave me a note. 

I am sort of keeping my eyes open around his shop cause he has a big tree root back behind that he is starting to whittle away on and when it is finished it will be "The Dragon's Nest."  That is all I am going to tell you about that.  I plan on doing an update on John in the very near future and showing you pictures of his shop and the band aid box on the wall!

In the meantime, if you want to get a hold of John and have him carve up one of your dead trees, his number is 719-485-9605, and as always, just tell him Lou sent you!