City Sister

This christmas season puts in mind of a conversation I had with my city sister several years ago. Her comment was that she could never live in my part of Texas, to her mind too rural and backwards. In truth I never plannned on living where I do but now that I am here you certainly could not get me to leave, at least not voluntarily.
Her comments started me thinking about why I live here and love it so much. She wonders how I live "without the conveniences" She labors under the impression the we here in the country are living in trying curcumstance without the benefit of technology, that we are all farmers or loggers. She thinks if a cow has horns, it is a bull. How little she knows.

Yes, she does have live theater and symphony,( so do we in the closest large town) 4 grocery stores in a 2 mile radius and a mall less than 10 minutes from her home. I will agree that she has a far superior selection of stores to shop in and yes, she does make quite a bit more money than I ever will here, but what I do have far exceeds any amenities she may care to list.

I know my neighbors and they know me. More than that, they know my dog and when I am gone he is welcome at their house.  The young married couple who live just south of me take care of our place when we are gone. This neighbor thinks taking care of the place means having it freshly mowed when we get home.
If I pull over to the side of the road to talk on the phone, no fewer than 3 people will slow down to make sure I am ok. One phone call will bring more help than I need; my neighbors know I am ready to help them whatever the time of day. Their trouble is my trouble. I have keys to their homes and they have keys to mine. If they need my tractor, they use it and bring it back, usually filled to the brim with fuel. It pleases me to know that we have that kind of relationship.
We have community blood drives and the Blood Bank knows they will have a full day here. We watch each other's stock, each other's homes and each other's children.
Our schools are important to us, not because we have nothing better to do, but because our children are our future.
The local feed store is family owned and family operated. they still say "Yes ma'am and No ma'am"
A phone call will get you what you need and if you can't get there by noon on Saturday, they will set it out on the loading dock for you and it will be there when you come for it.
I never feel taken advantage of when I go to my local garage. Scotty knows my name and my car's quirks. If he can't fix my car, he will send me to someone who can. 
I moved into a community where practically everyone is related to everyone else either by blood or marriage. Land here has been in the same family for generations, sometimes the original home place still stands but more often that not, only the remains of a homeplace hang on. I am not related to anyone but after several years of living here, you would not know it.
Our community is like grandmother's quilt, handed down, pieced together from various scraps and trimmings, colorful and sturdy.
Some of my neighbors are loggers and farmers. They follow a well-worn path of family tradition. They are intelligent and thoughtful men and women who also have college degrees and a strong sense of purpose. I count attorneys, paramendics& college professors as neighbors. I also count talented successful craftsmen who can weld the break of day or fashion a baby cradle from the old black walnut down in the back pasture.
We are community and we are blessed. City sister should have such riches.

All I want for Christmas is Rain

Christmas Eve this year puts me in mind of one very special christmas eve many years ago. It is raining now, but then it was snow that was falling. The outside lights created a dramatic backdrop for the snow silently falling on the texas hills.  That year most of the family was delayed in arriving at the "farm" , Mom was already in bed, Pop was watching the late night news and weather. I was in the kitchen finishing up the baking for the following day.
for many years I had heard the stories of Pop putting himself thru college by playing his horn. Once he told me that his church going organ playing mother would have had a stroke if she knew about the speakeasies he had played in and the goings on he had witnessed...but that horn put him thru college and got him an engineering degree. Pop told very entertaining stories about those days and I had often asked him to play his horn for me, always getting a shake of the head and the lament that it had been just too many years. Others in the family played for University marching bands....high school bands of national renown...a granddaughter became a music teacher.
Pop began this line of musicians but I had never heard him play and I so longed for that.
This particular christmas eve as I was finishing up in the kitchen, I heard the sliding glass door open onto the deck. Given that it was quite cold, I was surprised that Pop would go out on the deck. I stood at the kitchen sink, looking out the window watching the snow silently fall, thinking about the final things that needed to be done before I could go to bed. It was then that I heard the first tentative notes of a horn. a hesitant start gave way to more confident notes forming the song Silent Night. It was the most incredible moment as I realized that Pop was playing his horn. One song ended and another began, a lively boogie woogie tune from the 40's...followed bySilent Night again...this time confidently played notes danced on the snowflakes falling in those Texas hills. Pure magic! Pop crossed the deck outside and went ih the Master suite via the door on that end of the porch.
I stood at the sink, tears cascading down my face as I realized that I had just received the most precious gift I had ever received. Pop gave a bit of himself  that christmas. I will never forget it...years have passed yet the magic of the moment is as strong as ever.
Christmas Morning as we all gathered, Pop gave me a little wink and a nod, Santa Claus in person. We never spoke of it, it was as if we both knew it would ruin the magic of the moment.
So rain still falls tonight on the texas hills where I live and it seems, for just the barest of moments, that I can hear the notes of a boogie woogie horn. Merry christmas to all

Each year I seem to reflect more and more on Christmas past....the year we moved from the snowy Kansas prarie to Houston Texas, where humidity and short sleeves ruled. The 3 older girls each received roller skates and we spent the entire day outside on the sidewalks using them. As I recall we could scarcely walk the next day. There was the Christmas of 1966, our first christmas without daddy; we had an aluminum tree with the color wheel(gosh that dates me). One boyfriend made a very memorable Christmas for me (ahhh, young love); A christmas where I got to experience the wonder of the holidays in the eyes of my oldest son. Keeping his hands off the tree proved an impossible task.  Cutting a tree down became mandatory several short years later as did going to the farm for the holidays. I was very pregnant another christmas and could scarcely waddle, that year I had asked for a waffle iron and got a diamond necklace instead; legos in the stocking became a standard for the boys, Starwars toys gave way to guns and truck keys. My granddaughter is 13 this year, quite the young lady and visiting with Nana and PaPa; all too soon college, boyfriends and career will have her in places far from here.
Mom passed away november of 2009 but she was much in my thoughts as I did my christmas grocery shopping. Mom loved to shell pecans. she could spend hours and hours literally picking them out and brushing them clean. If Mom shelled the pecans you could trust there would be no shells or piths. I recall her sitting in my living room at the table, her pecan processing station, listenuing to tv and cleaning the pecans.
In her later (and failing years) my sister and her husband kept Mom in cracked pecans. When I was young, Mom made divinity that would melt in your mouth....her piecrusts were perfect.
I have had years of Christmas chaos both merry and not so merry as we blended families. This year we had  4 generations of my husbands family in attendance...who would have thought of great grandchildren?
We have been fortunate in our family, no real tragedies to weather and endure. If I could have a christmas wish it would be this: that we could remember why we celebrate christmas, that we could  realize that the gift that matters most is  selfless, genuine love.. the giving of ourselves. I wish children could know the excitement of getting that one special gift: a BB gun, a bicycle, a beautiful doll and be happy with that one gift; I wish parents would not spend money but rather spend time....and I  wish that we could all look up at a starry sky and know we have all received the greatest gift of all......

Dually Too

My husband and I are "owned" by a Chocolate Lab named Dually Too. We picked him up from Piney Woods Kennels in Lufkin Texas. We were quite impressed with the operation down there, it is NOT a puppy mill, rather they breed working dogs with a great deal of intellegence, if our dog is any measure.
Dually goes everywhere we go. I do some part time office work for a neighbor who operates several trucks. These trucks are parked in the corner of the back pasture close to the office. In this pasture is a horse named Toby. He is a buckskin quarter horse and really smart. He and Dually have made friends, they sniff noses, Dually jumps around and barks, Toby bucks and kicks and races around, then they come back togather and repeat the process. This is really funny to watch. When Dually has to "load up" in the back of our one ton truck, Toby does his best to get in too. I really beleive he would follow Dually home if we let him out the gate. Toby would follow me into the small portable building which is the office if I would let him. I  made the mistake of taking him apples once, now he is sure that I have a treat every time I show up. (which I usually do, have a treat that is). Both Toby and Dually just want to figure out what we want then they try to do it.  They are genuine in their affection and happy to see us whenver we come. Wish I could say that about people. These two characters make my life happier, I look forward to seeing them, to surprising them with some little treat or game, Toby always follows us all the way out to the last gate, hoping for one last pet or rub. Like Dually he recognizes the sound our Dodge Diesel Dually makes and runs for the gate to meet us. I get a great deal of pleasure watching him in that "rocking chair lope" of his.
Life is  full of simple little pleasures, Toby and Duallly playing togather is one of my favorites.

Rummy Box

When I was a little girl my mom had a round tin box that she kept extra buttons in. The box said Butter Rum on the top; I am not sure what was originally in the box, but for as long as I can remember, that box held salvaged buttons, zippers, snaps and thimbles.
That  box made a magical sound when Mom picked it up; we were never allowed to touch it, but if we were around when Mom had it open, she would let us look insid., We could use our fingers to move the buttons around and see how many different kinds there were. Mom could tell you where each and every button or snap came from. There were buckles from dress belts, zippers rolled up and secured with straight pin, little bows cut from dresses we had outgrown, seam bindings, bits of lace,cards of new buttons for a project that she was working on, and thimbles, treasures all.  Each of us remember that box, we remember Mom searching for just the right button to replace a lost one..she always seemed to find what she needed in that box.

My sister, Kathy, has that box now. I am not certain when she got it, I believe Mom gave it to her and rightly so as sister Kathy is an accomplished seamstress and quilter. Recently I sent her some tops and asked her to  a very different kind of treasure. Mom's industry and thriftiness live on in all the things inside That my sister used something from the box to make an apron for me is quite special. A piece of Mom lives on in all her daughters, most especially "sew" in my seamstress sister Kathy.

Deer Lease Thanksgiving

Practically every thanksgiving we spend part or all of the holiday on the deer lease. This entails a 4+ hour trip and the packing of travel trailers, motorhomes etc.(before you get any ideas, our motorhome is a little 90 model Class C in mint condition  that my hubby bought for a song)This year it also entailed our son bringing out everything needed to fry a turkey. Not only was the turkey beautiful, but it was possibly the best turkey we have ever had. This particular son went out of his way to do this for the family..pretty neat that he and his wife went to such effort for the rest of us.
We all look forward to the "lease" This year our 10 year old grandson shot his first deer. Big event for him and for us. His dad had bought him a nice rifle, they had come over to our house to sight it in...family involvement in the whole process. He made a good shot&the deer dropped practically in his tracks. Colton has been around guns and hunting since he was born. He respects the capabilities of any gun and is careful. We do not hide our guns from our children, rather we teach them about them.  Part of that teaching is not letting them handle a gun until they have reached an age where we are sure they have the abilities necessary in the use of a gun. This is much the same as letting them around our vehicles. They are around them, in them, but we do not give them the keys to drive until they have those abilities. In all activities, we SUPERVISE. We hunt and we eat what we harvest.
Often we will pass up a shot at a buck with a nice rack in favor of taking a long spike...which is not to say that we wouldn't take a trophy buck.
We use the lease year round. Getting ready for deer season, gettng ready for dove or turkey season, camping and just getting away. We have so many stories about things that happened out at the lease. One night, many years ago, we all sat up  watching a star that would get so very bright, then almost fade away...pulsing. I picked up a newspaper on our way home and found that the star was front page news in the Dallas paper, seems it was a star going SuperNova...and we had the opportunity to see it. The kids sat up with us imagining what was going on, it was a very special time. There is the story about my youngest son shooting his first turkey, another about videoing a monster buck but not shooting it....many memories have been made "out a the lease".
This may be going by the wayside like so many other things these days. Hunting has become very expensive. We are watching our dollars closely, making adjustments to income. One of those adjustments may be not retaining the deer lease, and that is a shame. The lease is more than hunting, or camping...it is a family event a retreat, a place where we show our children things that are important to us....teamwork, preparation, follow thru, support of each other, how to have a good time without electronics, how good a hot dog tastes roasted over an open flame, how not to burn a marshmallow, why we leave the land better than we found it, respect for the land and the animals that live there. There may be other ways to do this, I am pretty sure there are, but I know this: I am going to miss going out to the "lease".

Walmart aggrevation

This afternoon my husband and I went to the Walmart in Henderson. I rarely make impulse buys, however this afternoon I did purchase a product that I thought was a bit pricey, but the box had a $1.00 off coupon. Ok I thought, for that price I will try it. At the checkout I handed the cashier the carton, which I had removed the coupon from in front of her and handed her.
Did not get the  $1.00 off on my receipt, which I did not look out until I was in the parking lot. No way that I was going back in the store for $1.00, I'll just handle it online.
So, just a few minutes ago, I tried....and tried. Got all the way thru the process, hit the submit button and waited and waited and waited. I thought perhaps I had not hit the submit button, so I hit it again and was advised that my comments were in the process of being submitted. 13 minutes later, I gave up.
Now I have a brand new computer, and just this evening downloaded Microsoft Office, so I seriously doubt that the problem lies with my computer.
Since this is the 3rd time that Walmart has taken a coupon and not credited me with the amount of the coupon, I begin to wonder this: Walmart gets reimbursed by someone for discounting this particular item to me and since they DID NOT discount the item....and they still get the $$, isn't this a handy little way to make a few more $$$. I probably would not be feeling this way, except I was unable to make my concerns known to Walmart via email...and now I am wondering about that too.
Comments?

On a lighter note

I am going to my sister's house for Thanksgiving dinner.  Denise is multi talented to say the least. She has, in the last few years, married, taken up sewing and become an accomplished hunter.She and her husband, Warren, will be cooking the turkey. I am in charge of the dressing which was made and put in he freezer this past weekend.
Denise called me today to tell me that she is using Trisha Yearwoods turkey recipie. This is an unusual recipie and I am impressed that she is going to try it, impressed  that she and Warren researched and settled on this togather. This recipie calls for a 500 degree oven, a turkey and boiling water. I have no doublt that it will be wonderful.
I remember the first time I cooked a turkey for the family. I purchased a butterball turkey to ensure that I had a leg up on this project. I knew that the giblets and neck were inside the turkey, but there was no way I was going to stick my hand inside that turkey. Using the spray nozzle at the sink, I flooded the interior of the bird, turned it upside down and shook for all I was worth. Out came the giblets in their neat little package, that's all, no neck, just the little sack. I decided they must not have put a neck in this bird, which suited me just fine.
So, with the interior of the bird cleaned and seasoned, I proceeded to stuff the bird, then place him in the oven.
While the bird cooked, I made all the other preparations, including a beautiful table set with crystal and china.
I was going all out, including presenting the beautifully browned turkey on a platter to my waiting and surely impressed guests.
Family custom dictated that Pop carve the turkey and spoon out the dressing inside the bird. All went well for about 2 spoonfulls, when Pop hesitated, with a quizzical look on his face he tried to get the spoon into the bird for more dressing. Having no success, he bent down and peered into the turkey, then, with his fingers, he removed the now cooked neck from the inside of the turkey. Now I want you to get a mental picture of what that neck coming out of the turkey must have looked like. I was horrified, the guests were speechless..silence hung in the air like a death pall. Pop looked at me, winked, and then said..."well, now this is certainly a clear case of having one's head up one's a**"
 The laughter was instantaneous...and balm for my humiliation.
Dinner proceeded amid much laughter. I will never forget that first Thanksgiving.
My hope is that Denise and Warren have fun doing the cooking and that we all enjoy not only the fruits of their labors, but each other as well.
It's the love that goes into the dinner that matters most.....

Home

Home!  Such a wonderful word.
Going home for the holidays; going home after a hard day's work; at home we are safe, we can lay our burdens down, if only for a bit. We can enjoy our family, entertain our friends and just be ourselves. We can eat ice cream out of the carton if we want to.

Home is supposed to be a haven from the world, but we diminish the safety and comfort of our home in the most innocuous ways.

What destroys the peace of our homes? Well, gossip for one. We get home and all we can think to do is complain and criticize our fellow workers and our boss.  We gripe and carry on over traffic, the cost of fuel, and we complain about and deride the company that we work for. This happens every day.
To a point, it is a good thing to :vent" and release these caustic feelings and emotions.
But only to a point. Few of us live alone, we have spouses and children that populate the home we live in.
Husbands, wives, children(in-laws and extended family sometimes) come home for the smae peace and comfort that we seek.

We poison the very place of solace and safety that we need(and yearn for) by allowing the "media" to invade our homes. We turn on the tv to watch the evening news. Kids are tuned into ipods, ipads, xboxes etc...home yet we all retreat into a shell that brings the outside world in. sitcoms full of sexual innuendo, derision of the parents na dhorrible behavior of the kids; music and videos replete with the same. This goes on night after night. We are surprised when our kids and spouses begin to mimic what they see and hear.
How hard would it be to turn off the tv and talk to one another.
Years ago, conversation around the table was the norm. Sadly, today, few if any of us gather at a dinner table  or any table for that matter.
Kids have sports and activities, we have meetings and fsocial events....we gather at home in time to go to bed. We grab breakfast on the run and pick up dinner on the way home. We give our kids money so they can buy their meals out. Funny thing about this is that we actually take time to have a nice lunch with co workers or friends.
Eating at home, cooking at home..not done too much anymore
I wonder if we could make an effort to play a game, work on a puzzle, have a family budget meeting, take an evening walk...how hard can that be?
I am still on the theme of "can one person make a difference", at home...anywhere???
I believe it to be so.
My spouse humors me by turning off the television and playing dominoes with me. We have included his brother from time to time....we have fun, we laugh...and we keep score...it is becoming a nightly ritual and we are both enjoying it.

I think it is still possible to reclaim our lives ..or even a portion of them for ourselves. We should make the effort....the dividends paid will surprise you.

Changing Times

Several years ago, about this time of year, I lost my job. I was not bad at what I did, I just refused to BE bad at what I did.
"Times have changed," I was told."
You have to finesse the laws and regulations" I was instructed."
You will do what you are instructed to do" I was informed.
The problem is that I cannot finesse integrity
I wonder at the ease with which laws are broken in the name of a saved or skimmed dollar.
Who ultimately pays for this "savings?"
It is either the person working to produce or the unsuspecting public.
When the ugly "shortcut" rears its ugly head in the form of an accident or inferior products, the guilty scurry to cover their tracks and to disclaim any knowledge.
There is so little integrity left in corporate America these days. The banking bailout, General Motorgate(where the taxpayers are left holding the bag) Golden parachutes for the CEO's who have ruined both companies and retirees are common. They are handsomely paid off and sent into a luxurious retirement.
There is no shame left in the committing of corporate crime.
It is one thing to read about this type of thing in New York or California, but it reaches down into the smaller local corporations; it knocks on the door and is welcomed in...I have seen this greed, this lust for more and it is ugly!
The company I worked for once had a sterling reputation. I went to work for this company because I respected the men who ran it.
I am not sure when the dollar became the sole goal, when taking pride in service, when encouraging employees and making a fair and decent profit ceased to be enough.
I am disillusioned and sad. What saddens me most is to see first hand the downward spiral of the men I once held in such regard.
I was raised by a father who was steeped in American work ethic and honor. He proudly wore the uniform of the United States Army. My father drilled into me honor and integrity. I have not always risen to the benchmark he set for all his girls, but my shortfalls have been quite minor. I have not lost the pride I have in honesty and integrity, in a fair days work for a fair days pay.
I was offered the opportunity to join these men in benefitting from "just bend the rules a little".
I chose not to. I chose not to stoop low...and I said so...I called wrong..just what it was...wrong...and I was fired, first and only time in my life.
So, I am self employed. I take pride in the work I do, the service I offer.
Did my leaving the company make a difference? Can one person make a difference?
Standing up for honesty and integrity in our lives is imperative if we are to answer for ourselves at the end of the day. It is imperative that we set an example for this coming generation who is watching...it speaks to who we are..it speaks to who we choose to be....
A country western song says " You've got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything"
I choose to stand

Thoughts at the end of the day

It is early yet, but the house sleeps, save for me. The dog, Dually is on the bed, keeping my side warm till I come to claim it. The wind rises and falls, like breath thru the trees, no moon this night. It is in this quiet time that I consider the coming holiday, Thanksgiving. There is much to be thankful for: loving and being loved; strength to overcome the struggles of life; beauty in the changing colors of the leaves; the good humor and deep friendship that I have with my buddy, Dee; memories both sweet and bittersweet;  the healing grace of forgiveness.
these are the things that hold the greatest value to me. I have work for my hands; a roof over my head; reasonable good health, but I hold dearest, give my deepest thanks for having been loved and having wonderful people to show love to. What has worth is not what we can buy, but what we can give of ourselves.