RAMBLING AGAIN

Red skies at night. Sailors delight

Sun rise, sun set, swiftly goes the days. I thought these were beautiful fall pictures

Do you ever get the feeling that you are fishing in a dry hole. Well that is how I have felt for the last week or so about posting something on my blog. I have come in here and sat down at the computer several times in the last few days but for the life of me no words would come out. That is a little unusual, because most of the time I can start off typing and suddenly I am rambling on about all kinds of nonsense. So I thought I would try one more time.

Mark had his 32 ND birthday on the 16Th of this month. Talking about time flying, it seems like just yesterday that he was riding up and down the hall on the vacuum cleaner, wearing Sondra's little floral house coat. He also use to dress up in tights, a cape and cowboy boots and pretend to be a super hero. He was always running through the house jumping off chairs, the couch and beds rescuing us from great danger. Thank goodness the Dukes of Hazard came along and rescued us from the super hero. He went through a stage where he was Bo and continued to be Bo until he was in probably the second or third grade. Luckily he figured out which one was Bo, because one day when we were at the drug store, Mark was about two or three, the cashier said to him, " Well you sure are a cute little boy. What is your name". He looked at her and said just as serious as could be, "Ennis". We had to point out the characters to him the next time he watched the show. Dear Lord, I didn't want anyone to think we had really named him "Ennis". We must have all known the theme song to that show as well as Waylon Jennings did.

Sarah and Cody and the kids will be moving east soon. We are waiting to get the final word on when they will leave for Ft. Bragg. I declare they are like a band of gypsies. We were trying to figure out how many times they have moved in the six years they have been married. First to Omaha, back to Alabama, back to Lincoln, back to Alabama, to Huntsville, to Killen, to North Platte and now to Ft Bragg. I think there were actually a couple of more moves but I just can't get my mind wrapped around it. I hope they can be settled for at least three years. If I had to even think about moving all our junk I would probably be over come by exhaustion just from contemplating it. Good thing they are young and adventuresome.

John Pearson's football games are over for the season. He has done really well and I am thankful he made it through without getting hurt. Hopefully he will take a growing spurt before they start practicing for next season. Emily has one more softball game. Most of the games have been rained out. Her game is supposed to be this Thursday and guess what? It is supposed to start raining again Thursday. Oh well.

I am still trying to avoid the flu. We have had lots of people out sick but so far I haven't taken it. Knock on wood. John is still hacking and coughing but has no fever anymore. Emily has been here at the house with John for the last two days. She has been running a low grade fever. Our manager has been off work for over a week, but came in today and had to leave because she was to sick to stay. ugh!! Hope she is not contagious. Oh well again!!!

The leaves are starting to turn slightly and by the time the week is over and a couple of light frost things will really start to burst out in a kaleidoscope of color. I hope this happens before Halloween. I still have happy memories of going out on Halloween night with friends, trick or treating, walking through the leaves that had fallen and the sound of the soft crunch the leaves would make under your feet. Sadly Halloween is almost a thing of the past here. I guess most people don't feel comfortable letting their kids get out and ramble around half the night. Most things have changed, for me too much. I wonder if the kids just got to wild or the parents became to cautious. We all need simpler times.

A MAWMAW'S WORK IS NEVER DONE

This has been another crazy week. I don't know if it is just me or if I have more hectic weeks now than in the past. I guess it just seems that way sometimes.



Work was a little more nuts last week because Denise's father-in-law died and she had to go to Georgia for most of the week. When she is not there, it means that usually Doris and I have to pick up any loose ends. Between doing our jobs and trying to handle Denise's job, we start feeling like we are chasing our tails.



Wednesday morning I got up and got ready for work as usual. I left the house at 5:15 and was riding down the road listening to the radio and singing along with Kenny Chesney to "I'm Alive" ( I guess that is the name of the song). I thought to myself, "man I really feel good today, this is going to be a great day". Well I drove on down the road about a mile and just like that, it hit me and I said to myself, "man I don't feel so good". I started breaking out in a cold sweat and my hands started to shake and I didn't know if I could drive much farther, but was afraid to pull over on the side of the road, because it was still dark and I was afraid I was going to faint. I managed to call John to tell him I was sick. He said he would come and pick me up, but I decided to try to make it on to work. I finally got to the UNA parking lot and got out of the car. One of my co-workers was getting out of the car when I got there. I ask her to help make sure I made it down the stairs OK. When I got to the office I sat down and checked my blood sugar. It had dropped to 48. I was given some orange juice and about 30 minutes later it started to level off. I finished up the work I needed to do then went home for the rest of the day. It is really scary when your sugar bottoms out like that.

I had a doctors appointment on Friday and she gave me a pill to take along with my insulin. I need to take more carbs out of my diet and exercise more. I guess I will add another mile to my walk each day. Oops! I forgot to walk today.

We went to David and Jackie Berrens' 50Th wedding anniversary celebration Saturday night. They renewed their wedding vows at 5:30 Mass and there was a dinner party following Mass. The gym was transformed into the most beautiful setting. Sheer white tulle with hundreds of tiny lights was draped from the ceiling and down the walls to form a huge tent. The dinner was delicious. The meal was beef roast, pork roast, green beans, mashed potatoes, gravy, squash casserole, salad and wedding cake. There was about 300 people attending so it was quite a production. There was a DJ there and we danced for a while after dinner. Lots of fun.

Johnny, Tracy and the kids came over for dinner. I cut Johnny, JP, Emily and John's hair after dinner. Tracy brought pants to be hemmed for the kids. Tomorrow is Columbus Day, so the kids will be here with John tomorrow and they both have ball games tomorrow night. Looks like the makings of another busy week.

GIRLS NIGHT OUT AT THE FAIR

We couldn't figure out how you get into the truck.

Emily riding the pony.

Big wheel keep on turning.

Having a good time.

Lawrenceburg fair

Livestock judging

Emily is a winner.

Heading out for the evening.

Yesterday was a beautiful Fall day. The temperature had dropped just enough that is made getting outside and spending the day just tulling around a pleasant treat. John has been sick this week so we have stayed pretty close to home, but yesterday he wanted to get out and get some fresh air. We drove up to HWY. 101 and stopped at a few yard sales. It was a route that went from Moulton to TN. and there must have been a yard sale every 100 feet. This was the first year that they had started this one, so looks like we will have to remember it next year.

Tracy, Emily and I headed up to Lawrenceburg TN. for the county fair. First off we had to make a stop at the Goodwill store. It was having a half off everything in the store sale, so we found us a few treasures and then stopped at the Dairy Queen for a chili dog combo (yummy). We decided to eat before we got to the fair. You know how tempted you are when you smell all that fair food. I don't know why you want to try everything the corn dogs, the funnel cake, candy apples, cotton candy. After we got their we opted for a popcorn for me and Tracy and a snow cone for Emily.

The fair never changes. There is always the sound of the hawkers wanting you to play the games and the sound of the merry-go-round and other rides. Before you get to the gate you hear the roar of the monster trucks or the motorcycles putting on the show in the grandstand. There is the sound of girls ( and sometimes the guys) squealing while riding the roller coaster and the Ring of Fire. You see people of all ages from elderly people to the tiny babies that look like they could only be few weeks old. There were literally hundreds of people there. A couple of times I looked back and the people were just elbow to elbow. I know one thing for sure, these fairs take in a boat load of money. At five dollars a person to get in, two to five dollars to play a game, three dollars or more for a ride not to mention all the food that is sold, somebody has to be making money. This may be something John and I need to look into to supplement our social security check:)

We enjoyed looking through the exhibits at all the homemade food and handcrafted items. We signed up for all the giveaways and will probably get a hundred telephone calls from everyone from Avon dealers to Home Depot home improvement specialist.

The only thing that I didn't see and don't know if they still have it or not is the hoochie coochie dancers. I remember when I was real little and we would go to the fair in Florence, that daddy would always make a bee line to the dancers tent. We would stand out front and watch the girls gyrate around while the announcer would talk about the exotic show that would be performed inside. Then when they actually started selling tickets, we would go play some games or ride some rides. I don't think I ever remember daddy actually going to one of the shows. Maybe he was afraid mother would beat the crap out of him if he spent money on a girlie show.

I guess that the fair is one thing you can count on stay the same.