Winding Up 2006

Another Christmas has come and gone and we are left with the sad job of taking down the decorations. But, we have a lot of wonderful memories from this Christmas Season.

CHRISTMAS ACTIVITIES. As I mentioned last Saturday we went to Kenny and Lori’s for their annual Christmas party which was a lot of fun. Sunday found us at church for both morning and evening services. Mom and Pauline came over to our house for supper after the evening service.

Christmas morning, after opening our own presents, we headed over to Mrs. Connie’s for the annual Christmas brunch where there was more food than any of us needed to eat. For supper Vicki made soup and we all went over to Aunt Mar’s to eat.

The sad part of Christmas this year was that Aunt Mar had been fighting a cough all last week which was diagnosed as bronchitis. She wisely decided to skip out on all the Christmas activities in order to get better. I know it was hard for her to stay home and we all missed her very much. At least she felt good enough for us to eat supper at her house Christmas evening and come back for supper again Tuesday evening. It should be noted that even bronchitis did not keep Aunt Mar from canceling her hair appointment.

Wednesday we went to Opry Mills to meet with Jonathan and Sheila Leach (college friends) and their three daughters. We enjoyed visiting as we browsed around the mall and had an adventure at the Rainforest Café. Thursday we went out to eat and to see Charlotte’s Web. And Friday all the cousins from Ashland City came over for chili and soup. 

All in all it has been a nice, relaxing holiday.

WHAT WE GOT FOR CHRISTMAS. You know you are blessed when your daughter is complaining about where in her room she is going to put the stuff she got for Christmas. I will not inventory everything the kids got for Christmas, but here are some highlights.

Jenna is an avid reader and enjoys movies as well. She got several books and movies to add to her collection. I’ll have to say her 20Q is pretty addictive. This handheld game asks 20 questions to guess what you are thinking. Whoever programmed it has my respect.

Ben’s favorite present is probably his Superman laptop. It is his constant companion in the van. Another hit for him is the Gum Ball machine from the Bradley’s. He now considers himself a businessman and even hired Jenna to write up the following sign on the Magna-Doodle stationed by the machine: “PAY! If not you will be found.” The machine accepts all coins, but he prefers quarters of course! It is for a worthy cause, all of the proceeds will go toward a Disney trip in 2008.

This was another year of Thomas the Tank Engine for Nate. He got an expansion set from Santa and the Water Tower Steam Set from Kenny and Lori . He also got several engines from G’Anne. He greeted each gift with, “Oh, I love Thomas and he loves me!” He has enough track now to invade both front rooms of the house.

Probably the coolest gift in my opinion was the dominoes. These aren’t marked for playing the game of dominoes, but for setting up to enjoy the domino effect. The set included what looks similar to a gun clip. The dominoes are stacked in the clip and the clip is inserted into a little truck. Turn the truck on and it rolls across the floor setting the dominoes up for you. It’s pretty slick!

On the way home one evening, Benton was unusually quiet. When he did speak he started expressing his appreciation to Vicki for all the hard work she does to keep our family running: cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc. Vicki was grateful for the acknowledgment but was later shocked to learn that I hadn’t put him up to it. She was very pleased to realize he had no ulterior motives...his thankfulness was Vicki’s best present this year.

A PROMOTION. Nate is now heavy enough to move up to a booster seat. So Wednesday I took his car seat out of the van and replaced it with a smaller booster. This will make loading and unloading so much easier and give the van greater seating flexibility when we take Mom and Aunt Mar out to eat.

When we broke the news to Nate, Ben quickly offered his congratulations saying, “Way to go, Nate. I knew you could do it!” When Nate understood what was happening he said, “Good-bye old car seat [it was sitting in the back hall at this point]. I hated you.” Then he turned to us and said, “I’m ready to go somewhere!”

CHARLOTTE’S WEB. We just can’t think of how they could have made this film any better. It will be as much a classic as the book and the first animated movie. If you enjoy movies, go see this one. I think E. B. White would be proud of this rendition of his story.

HAPPY NEW YEAR We are about to head to church for a family game night to celebrate and ring in the New Year. We hope and pray that 2007 will be a wonderful year for you!

Joe

Christmastime Is Here

All the schools have closed their doors for holidays, and we are busy getting ready for the BIG DAY. We hope you have a great Christmas at your house. As for us, we will be going to Kenny and Lori’s this evening for their 21st annual community Christmas party, church tomorrow, and, well, all the usual activities....

FIRST PUBLIC PERFORMANCE. Last Sunday night the choir at church hosted a dessert dinner. After eating we all enjoyed Christmas music. Leading off the entertainment were three of Ann Morris’ piano pupils. Jenna played We Three Kings of Orient Are as a duet with Mrs. Ann and she did a great job. She said she wasn’t nervous. We were all very proud of her.

CHEATER. Ben is a fast kid. When he takes off running you can tell it would be hard for other kids to keep up with him. Jenna sure can’t. I can still outrun him, but I know my days are numbered.

The other day he came in bragging about how he beat Jenna running back from Pauline’s. Usually when I race Ben I run to keep it close or I let him win. This time he was bragging so much I decided I’d challenge him and blow his doors in. So we went outside, agreed on a course (from the back porch, around the red house, around the chicken house and back to the porch) and took off on Jenna’s command. When I rounded the chicken house I thought I heard noises coming from the other side but I didn’t look back. On the final turn, as the porch came into view, Ben was standing there celebrating his victory. Knowing he had taken a shortcut I cried, “You cheated!”

“I did not!” came his reply, “You were getting ahead of me so I decided to go a different way!”

We brought our friendly disagreement into the house. Vicki laughed at our huffing and puffing (both from our physical exertion and our male egos).

THE NATIVITY STORY. One of the Sunday school classes at church reserved a movie theatre for a showing of this film last night and we all (except Nate) went. If you have not made time to see this movie you need to do so. This is a must see in our opinion. The acting was excellent. The movie stays about as true to the Christmas story as possible, but a few aspects were compressed or left out to make the story flow well on screen (e.g. no angelic choir appeared to the shepherds, the wise men show up the night of the birth as well as Herod’s orders to kill all the baby boys in Bethlehem being carried out that night).

This film really made everything Mary and Joseph went through become more real. I’ve thought about these things when reading the Bible but seeing this acted out on the big screen made things like the shame they suffered, the hardships of travel they endured, how life was under Roman rule and the dreams they had as parents take on a stronger reality.

I’m glad this movie came out after Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ. This really made the scene after the birth more poignant for me. I kept thinking about what it felt like to hold one of my kids in my arms and look at their little faces, hands and feet. And then to think about Jesus like that, knowing the rest of the story...

(By the way, the actress that played Mary also had the lead role in Whale Rider. She did a great job in that film as well and it is a good story for a movie rental night.)

Joe

Dealing with Loss

You are never ready to say good-bye when someone passes away, and that is certainly the case with Uncle Paul. Jimmie Pitt had stopped in to check on him before church Sunday morning. He told Jimmie he didn’t feel well and Jimmie was helping him back to bed when he collapsed. Uncle Paul was 94.

My heart hurts for Uncle Paul’s son, Jackie, as he and his dad were best friends. Jackie drove out here from Clarksville (about an hour’s drive) practically every week day to spend time with his dad. Uncle Paul and Jackie are two men that I admire very much. It would be fair to say that both men are heroes of mine. I hope I will have the relationship with my kids that they have enjoyed with each other. One memory that stands out in my mind is how Uncle Paul took care of Aunt Bonnie, his first wife, when her kidneys failed her and she needed dialysis. He learned how to do the whole procedure and did as much as for her as he could.

Up until the last year or so you’d find Uncle Paul parked up at the four way stop in Cross Plains every afternoon. He loved to watch the kids get off the school bus in town. He had been a bus driver himself for 33 years. Uncle Paul’s driving had tapered off the last couple of years but he did drive himself to the Threshermen’s Show back in July.

Uncle Paul was never too old to be mischievous. He loved to pick at kids. Sometimes he would motion to one of the boys when we’d go to visit and say something like, “Come here and let me turn your nose upside down so it will rain in it.” I’ll never forget a story he told me about the wheat threshing days. This was back in the day when two men had to bag the grain when it came out of the separator. He climbed atop the separator, lit a cherry bomb and dropped it down the grain chute. When it exploded in the bag of grain dust went everywhere. The two men bagging the wheat were too busy blaming each other for the prank to notice him climbing down to the ground, laughing all the way. He was such a prankster that Aunt Mildred, his second wife, finally baptized him with a glass of water saying he needed it a second time. After Aunt Mildred died someone asked Uncle Paul if he would marry again. “Naw,” thinking of both very special women with a twinkle in his eye as he replied, “It costs too much to bury them.”

His mind was sharp to the very end. Jackie said that last week they rode all over the farm and that Uncle Paul pointed out the property corners and many other things he remembered. He loved the farm and fulfilled his wish to live there all of his days. I’ve always looked across the fields to Uncle Paul’s house whenever I am in the yard. Our houses are about a mile apart. (He once told me that when Mom and Dad were living here he and Dad would stand on their respective porches and try to shoot each other with their .22 rifles.) It gives me a very lonely feeling to look over his way now, but I take great comfort knowing that, as it is worded when a death is recorded in Genesis, he has been gathered to his people.

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Since I last wrote it has either been really cold (I noticed Friday we were 20° colder than Anchorage, Alaska) or really warm (no need for a jacket today). We’re just bouncing all around the average for this time of year.

A VISIT TO BETHLEHEM. Every year, on the second weekend of December, for the past 25 years Southeast Baptist Church in Murfreesboro puts on the Bethlehem Marketplace. What they have done is taken the idea of a live nativity scene and scaled it up to the village level in their gym.

When you get there you are seated in their sanctuary where you enjoy Christmas music while you wait your turn to enter the Marketplace. The setting is the day after Jesus was born and you walk though the town as the locals (church members in costume) interact with you. The first thing you see is the shepherds outside the town where they tell you what they saw the night before. From there you enter through the town’s gate where you must participate in the census (sign the guest register).

Inside Bethlehem you walk through the marketplace where surly Roman centurions patrol the street to keep order. You can also “shop” at the stalls of the basket maker, baker, brass tinker, tanner, carpenter, wine maker, weaver, and potter. There is also a food vendor, a perfumer, a jail, a fisherman selling the fresh catch on the day and an inn (no vacancy here). Whenever you hear the shofar blown you can make your way over to the synagogue to hear a short Old Testament story relating to the birth of the Messiah. On your way out you walk through the cave that serves as the stable setting for the live nativity.

They bring several animals in for this event. I was almost kissed on the lips by a six month old camel. The people do a good job staying in character too. Nate was in the basket maker’s booth looking at a basket he liked when the lady told him he could buy it for two mites. Not having any money she offered to trade for his garment (coat). She no more than said that then Nate shucked off his coat and walked away, the proud owner of a new basket. (They traded back as the garment would fit anyone she knew). It was a very neat Christmas activity.

Joe

Getting into the Spirit of the Season

Last time I mentioned a change in the weather was predicted. It was 60° when we went to bed last Thursday night and 30° the next morning when we got up. That was a bit of a shock to the system when I went out to get the paper.

CHRISTMAS PARADE. Cross Plains had its annual parade Saturday. It was actually pretty good for something that was organized at the last minute. All the fire departments in the county were well represented and deafening. On a quieter note the East Robertson band and the local boy scout and girl scout troops were in line too. All this made up 80% of the parade. Our kids had a great time visiting with school friends and cousins as well as scrambling for candy.

HAVING A FRIEND OVER. Mackenzie Barrow is one of Jenna’s classmates and friends. Jenna invited her for a sleep-over Saturday evening. We took everyone out to Pizza Hut for supper. On the way to eat we went through Greenbrier. We’d heard about one house with a light display choreographed to music. It’s not as big a display as on some of the videos I’ve seen on the Internet but pretty impressive to be sure. When you get there you tune your radio to the frequency posted on a sign in the yard to get the full effect of the show.

After supper we drove by my supervisor’s house. James has been making at least one life size Peanuts character out of plywood each year for the last few years. Snoopy sleeps atop a shed at the end of the driveway (Woodstock is standing on his stomach). Charlie Brown, Sally, Linus, Lucy and others are on the ground around the building. His latest addition is Marcy. He puts a lot of work into these figures and they look really good.

When we got home it was bed time for the boys, but we let the girls stay up and play games. They (Vicki included) had a great time playing together and stayed up later than I did.

FOOTBALL FANATIC. I am not much of a sports nut. I have mentioned this abnormality about myself before. Vicki takes up my slack. The kids and I ate our lunch Sunday at the table. Vicki took hers to the living room to watch the Titans play the Colts. We were eating peacefully when we heard Vicki let out a big scream (that was when the Titans made an interception). The kids and I all looked at each other. Ben, feeling the need to explain the sound for the rest of us, nodded toward the front of the house and simply said, “That’s football.” Her screams reached a fever pitch by the end of the game. And though I don’t keep up closely I am glad both Manning boys went home nursing their wounds, so to speak, these last two weeks.

HOME TOUR. The Cross Plains Heritage Commission hosted a holiday home tour Sunday. Vicki and I went after the game was over. It was a short tour with three homes on the route. Two of them are approaching 200 years old, twice the age of our house. It just made me wonder what stories I’d hear if those walls could talk.

VROOM! A few weeks ago Ben was intrigued with the exhaust from the truck as it was cool enough for it to show up plainly. At the bus stop he walked around behind the truck to get a closer look (he wasn’t close enough to be in danger). At the right moment I revved the engine making the poor boy jump back about five feet. Now, when we arrive at the bus stop, I am given explicit instructions from Ben not to “vroom” him.

NOW THAT’S BIG! Saturday afternoon I was waiting at church for another fellow to take care of a maintenance project. While out in the parking lot I got to thinking about Noah and how big his ark was supposed to be. Using the accepted conversion factor that 1 cubit is 18 inches I began to step off the size of the ark. At 450 X 75 feet the ark would take up all the parking spaces in the back three rows (these are the only rows that run the length of the lot). Then I estimated how the height of the ark (45 feet ) would compare to our church building. I figure it would be just a few feet shorter than the highest part of the roof line. Standing there trying to visualize the ark sitting in the parking lot almost defies the imagination.

For those of you not familiar with our church there is a great aerial shot on Google Earth. Just search for 7109 Highway 25 East, Cross Plains, TN. You can use the measurement tools to get a feel for the dimensions of the parking lot. Or you can do this to a parking lot near where you live. You’ll be amazed. After stepping it off I sure was.

Joe

Innocence Lost

Our Christmas decor is now up and we all feel festive. Outside it has been sunny and 65°. I’ve even been wearing shorts. Change (possibly snow) is coming this Friday though!

A WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING. That really sums it up. It was a perfect day and the meal was delicious. We had so much we ate leftovers clean through to Sunday. It was a big Thanksgiving this year. We fed 21 people. Here’s the story with the guests...

My cousin, Sarah Letsinger, has recently moved from Florida to Lebanon, Tennessee. She now lives with her sister, Mildred Pryor. We invited Aunt Mildred and Aunt Sarah for starters. (Aunt? So how do you address cousins who are the age of your parents? In their case “aunt” is an affectionate title.) Knowing that some of their children would be traveling to visit them for the holiday we extended the invitation to whoever was coming this way. That brought Bill Letsinger (Aunt Sarah’s younger son) and Dewayne Barnes (Aunt Mildred’s grandson) to us as well. I had not seen Bill or Dewayne in about 20 years, and I had never met their wives, Jen and Melissa, or their children.

We had the best time together! It was so nice to renew relationships and meet new additions to the family. We couldn’t have enjoyed the afternoon more if we’d tried to plan it. I think the kids had a lot of fun too. With the exception of Aunt Mildred’s other grandson, Wesson, Jenna was the oldest child of the gang. We had bicycles and tricycles going every direction. It was just a fun day.

HOMECOMING. Friday Vicki and Pauline got up early to go to Camden. Six of Vicki’s high school friends got together and caught up with each other. Many of them she had not seen since her 10 year reunion in 1998. Life has taken lots of different twists and turns, but everyone seems to be in a good place now. And Vicki also said everyone looked mighty good to have doubled their age since graduation. Oh the things we all would go back and tell our 18 year old selves about life if we could. While Vicki was visiting, Pauline saw several of her friends as well. I think they both had a great time.

SURPRISE VISIT. I think I had mentioned a few months ago that the Yerglers had moved from New Jersey to Georgia. They spent their Thanksgiving in Michigan with the Yergler family but stopped by Aunt Mar’s for an hour or so on their way home Saturday night. It was nice to see them. Hopefully we can see more of each other now that they are only four hours away.

ALL THE LEAVES ARE GONE. As I alluded to above, we could not have asked for prettier weather this Thanksgiving break. I spent several hours Wednesday, Friday and Saturday getting the rest of the leaves off the yard. It could not have been more comfortable weather to work in. I have put all the leaves on the garden hoping to both kill weeds and act as mulch. I’ll be in trouble if I get a strong east wind before there’s a soaking rain to pack them down.

OUR SUPER HERO. Nate loves his super hero pajamas. Some nights he is Spiderman (which includes webbing under the arms). Other nights he is Super Man (complete with cape, which he calls a “tape”).

Friday morning Nate was Spiderman. The whole time I was cooking breakfast he kept coming in the kitchen and shooting his webs at me. It turns out I was his arch villain, the “Evil Big Guy.” In spite of our young hero’s best efforts I was still able to carry out my nefarious plot to make pancakes and sausage and he was glad enough to eat them when I was done cooking.

HALLELUJAH! Today I threw away the diaper pail. Nate has been wearing underwear during the day for months but he still needs a pull-up at night. While we can’t say he is 100% potty trained we’re close enough to get rid of that last part of babyhood. It is with mixed emotions that we say good-bye to this part of our lives. 

GROWING UP. If you are reading this newsletter to young children you might want to stop here--this is your spoiler warning.

Last night Ben asked Vicki point blank if there really is a Santa Claus. We usually dodge this by asking, “What do you think?” But something about the way Ben asked made Vicki realize this wasn’t a casual question. Ben accusingly said that one boy at Mom’s Day Out last year told him that the parents buy the presents and put them under the tree. Jenna was present when Ben asked. She admitted that other girls at school had been talking about this. Telling about one friend who asked if she believed Jenna said with big eyes, “Momma, I LIED and said no because I didn’t want her to think I was a little girl.”

After fishing a bit more Vicki suggested that Jenna step out of the room. When she and Ben were alone she realized Jenna was standing just out of view. Vicki asked, “Do you want to hear this?” A tentative “yes” came back in response. That’s when Vicki broke the news.

Ben took the whole thing in stride, reflecting on what he’d heard, accepting it as fact. Jenna, on the other hand, had a brief moment of denial saying, “No, it can’t be true. He’s real. Is it true?” A good look into Vicki’s eyes confirmed her fears.

Pondering this revelation for a while Ben asked, “So have you and Dad enjoyed all the milk and cookies we’ve been leaving out?” When Vicki admitted we had he smiled and said, “That was a good snack for you!”

I think they are both okay with the news, but I believe Jenna took it a it harder than Ben. After asking about the cookies Ben proceeded to tell Vicki about all the things he wanted for Christmas.

Of course, this changes the whole Christmas wishing process. Before, Jenna would try to go easy on us asking us for smaller gifts and Santa for the more expensive ones because she knew we didn’t have enough money for everything she wanted. It has sort of taken her by surprise that we’ve been paying for Christmas all these years.

Ben now knows with whom to lodge his complaints. He told Vicki he really didn’t like the pinball machine he got last year and then proceeded to tell her exactly what he wanted this time around. She stopped him before he could reel off all his toy specifications.

Now Ben was warned not to tell Nate or his classmates. But at breakfast this morning Nate looked up from his Pop-Tart and asked, “Santa’s not real?” Vicki glared in Ben’s direction as he tried to feint his innocence.

Joe

A Reminder To Be Thankful

Thanksgiving is upon us and we’ve had a few things happen to remind us what we’re thankful for.

THANKFUL FOR A NIGHT OWL. At the time of writing this we aren’t sure how serious this might have become. I am an early riser and Vicki is a night owl. Between the two of us there aren’t many hours in the day when at least one of us is awake. It was the wee hours of Sunday morning when Vicki was getting ready for bed (she had fallen asleep on the couch). It was a little after 2:00 am when the power went off and back on, really a rare thing for the circuit our house is on. A few minutes later Vicki started smelling smoke. She woke me up and we spent the next 30-45 minutes inspecting the house inside and out. I had immediately turned off the heat to help us localize the odor. After about 20 minutes of looking around we noticed the smell was fainter. We turned the heat back on and the smell came back strong as ever. To be cautious I went outside and killed the furnace at the service disconnect. Within an hour there was no trace of any smell.

The problem smelled worse than it actually was. The inside walls of the furnace are lined with insulation. Some of this had come loose and was touching the heat exchange tubing. While the insulation is flame retardant, it sure smells bad when it is being scorched. Of course, I didn’t know this as I sat up for an hour after our little scare. A lot of things run through your mind about blessings in life and the people you love in a situation like that.

ANOTHER CLOSE CALL. Krisle Elementary lies halfway between our house and Springfield. Mom and Aunt Mar were on their way to town yesterday. As they were driving past Krisle a truck topped the hill ahead. Then a second truck (a pickup) appeared in their lane passing the first truck. At first Mom thinks “He sees me and will give up passing the other truck.” This driver chooses to continue passing even though it is obvious he can’t make it without causing an accident. As Mom heads for the ditch she notices that this guy has changed his plan and is heading for her ditch as well.

The ditch at this spot is very shallow. When everything is over Mom finds that the car rolled smoothly to a stop in the side yard of the school’s campus. Both trucks managed to stay on the road and neither of them stopped to see if Mom and Aunt Mar were okay (a lady in a car behind the trucks did though). They were very glad to have gotten through it without a scratch to themselves or the car. We all think the Lord was watching over them at that moment. There aren’t that many places along the highway to Springfield that offer a smooth shoulder and ditch like that. The timing was impeccable.

ON A LIGHTER NOTE. We had our annual community Thanksgiving service Sunday night. This year it was at Hopewell Baptist Church (there are five churches that participate). We had a joint worship service and then went to their fellowship hall to eat. This all started as light refreshments several years ago. It is now a notch short of a full meal. I ate too much. Janyth Henry, a lady from our church, was commenting on how Hopewell has raised the bar for us as it’s our turn to host the service next year. I told her we could all join Hopewell for a few weeks next November. All joking aside, it’s always fun to see people you don’t normally attend church with. One of Ben’s classmates was really happy to see him at her church.

This is out of chronological order but another fun holiday activity was the Cross Plains Heritage Commission’s pot luck dinner Thursday night. Vicki, Mom and I had a good time and I must say that Ken Thomson, our vice president, comes up with the neatest things to discuss. This time he talked about the socially acceptable ways to use tobacco in the 1800s. He brought several things to show which included snuff boxes, cigar wrappers and cigarette pipes. By the way, we are getting our web site started for the Heritage Commission and will be adding content as much as time allows. We already have several interesting articles posted.

ONE BUSY VOLUNTEER. Vicki has been really busy volunteering at school lately. Between Book Fair, the canned food drive and the Thanksgiving meal I think she was up there every day last week and several days the week before that.

DO I MEASURE UP? I enjoy hearing old stories like the ones I ran the last few weeks. They make the past come alive. It’s like adding color to those old black and white photos of your family. Without these stories, those pictures have about as much meaning to me as the ones you see in Cracker Barrel.

I was talking to a cousin on the phone last week about Amanda Ayres. We talked about many of the things he remembered her telling him as a boy and about how hard life was in the years after the Civil War when she was growing up. He said he asked her how they found the will to survive all those hardships. She corrected him saying, “We didn’t have hardships. They were challenges.” I had never heard this before.

Amanda is in a family picture that hangs on the wall in our study. She is looking over my shoulder as I type. I’ll never look at her image the same way again and I hope to live up to her outlook on life.

Wishing you a happy Thanksgiving,

Joe

Smoky Nights, Frosty Mornings

We woke up to a really heavy frost this morning--so heavy it almost looked like a skiff of snow. We’ve also had an unnatural, patchy fog around the community as many farmers are firing their tobacco one last time to put the final finish on it before taking it down to strip it.

KINDERGARTEN HOMEWORK. In preparation for Thanksgiving Ben’s class was given a cutout of a turkey and told to decorate it and write a story about it. Ben and Vicki worked on his turkey, gluing cereal and candy on it to make it look pretty. Then Ben dictated the following story about his turkey to Vicki:

“Once there was a turkey walking in the woods. He was going to a party but he didn’t know if the boys and girls would know he was a cereal and candy turkey. Then he thought he would dress up like a ‘real’ turkey. When he got to the party the boys and girls thought he was a fake turkey. It was present time and he didn’t have a present so he showed them his cereal and candy and they laughed and laughed. The End.”

HOMEWORK DEMON. Speaking of homework I need to mention my daughter. I am beginning to think she lives for homework. All kidding aside, it is very important to her that it is done right. Occasionally she’ll ask me to check her work. It is amazing how hard third grade homework can be when your child doesn’t have an example from class to give you the context of the problem or question. This really frustrates Jenna. I must say that Vicki really shines in this area as she is always there to help Jenna or Ben when they need it.

HERBERT FOLLOWUP. I got this email from Lori after she read about Herbert last week. I thought I’d pass it along. She writes: “Herbert is still alive and well! After 21 years of marriage I’ve finally quit jumping when I find him around the house. He went trick or treating with Mac this year. With 3 boys I would say Herbert’s going to be busy for a long, long time.”

ANOTHER ANCESTOR STORY. The Mr. John stories I ran last month made me think of another old story I’ve heard over the years. This story concerns Amanda Ayres (1859-1951), my great grandmother on Dad’s side of the family. As I understand it Amanda was one of five girls. The sad part of the story is that her father wasn’t around much and the family really struggled to survive. The economic situation during the Civil War didn’t help matters. To illustrate this point, at one time they had very little food. The had a hog but Amanda’s mother, Martha, didn’t want to kill it (either it needed to raise a litter of piglets or it wasn’t cold enough to put up the meat--an important consideration in the days before refrigeration). So to put some food on the table Martha cut off the sow’s ears and fried them up.

The story goes that one day the girls were playing out in the yard when several men rode up on horseback. They asked the girls to get their mother. When Martha came to the door of the house they asked her to fix them breakfast. Looking the men over she decided it was better to comply even though she probably couldn’t afford to spare the food. After the meal was over and the men were getting up to leave she decided to venture a question: “I’d like to know who I just served breakfast to?” One of the men replied, “You have just fed Frank and Jesse James and their men.” After the men left it is said that a silver dollar was found under each plate.

Naturally, we’re not 100% sure of all of the details of this story, it happening some 150 years ago. But we do know that the James Gang did operate in the area about that time. One cave about three miles from my house is named the Jesse James Cave because it is said he used it as a hideout. And whenever we’ve met distant cousins that descended from one of Amanda’s sisters and compared notes we’ve found they’ve all been told the same tales. At any rate, it’s an interesting piece of family folklore.

Joe

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POST PUBLISHING COMMENT. I talked to David Lee Thompson a couple of days after mailing this. He said he had always heard that the “Sow’‘s Ears” story happened during the Civil War. The occupying Union soldiers had stolen just about everything of value and eaten up all the food. All they had for food was corn meal and a hog hidden in the woods. When Martha decided to go to the woods and kill the hog she found it’d had a litter of pigs. She must have made a stew with this as Amanda had told David that fed them for a week. Of course, they had plenty of meat once the pigs grew a bit. David stressed to me that Aunt Helen didn’t believe this particular story was true as she doesn’t recall hearing it from Amanda. Uncle Paul does remember this story.

David also gave me some more details on the James brothers’ visit. He said this happened after the war when the food situation had improved some, and history records that the two of them (no gang at this time) robbed the bank in Russellville, Kentucky, in 1868. As Amanda recalled to David, two men came up the road on horseback and she ran in to get her mother. It was about 10:00 in the morning. When the men got to the house they said they were traveling through and asked if they would cook them some breakfast. Amanda remembers they wore long coats. In their conversation Martha asked the men who they were. She must not have been up on current events or this was before they become legendary because the names didn’t mean anything to Martha at the time. David said they did find silver dollars under their plates when clearing the table.

David went to to say that the time after the Civil War (the Reconstruction) was hard on everyone. John Swann, Amanda’s future father-in-law, had a large farm. After the soldiers stole all his livestock, harnesses, etc. he could no longer pay the property taxes on his farm and lost most of his land. David said Amanda was a really tough woman. One time she cut and shocked about seven acres of corn by herself (Uncle Paul tried to help her but he was too little to be of much help). David remembered asking Amanda how they lived through all their hardships. She corrected him saying they were challenges.

It’s Already November!

Most of the trees have lost their color and are in various stages of nakedness. It is a time when there is lots of activity in the fields as farmers disk the ground and sow their wheat as well as combine their soybeans. It is not uncommon to to be driving at night and see headlights in places where you don’t normally see them as these men work late to get the job done.

FREEZING. There have been many mornings the last couple of weeks Jenna will look at the thermometer and say something like, “It’s 45°, it’s freezing outside.” Being one to keep things stirred up I’ll argue the technical point saying, “Oh no it’s not. Water freezes at 32° so it’s 13° above freezing.” She had me Friday morning when it was 28°.

These temperatures don’t bother me, but let it get to 80° and I’m starting to feel really hot. So is Vicki. Jim and Dianna have teased us about this over the years. When we talked this weekend they asked how cold it was here and when I mentioned Friday morning’s temperature Dianna thought that was really cold. I noticed she didn’t have a good comeback when I told her that if I couldn’t complain about 80° being hot then she had no right to complain about 28° being cold. I guess it’s all what you’re acclimated to.

HALLOWEEN. We actually had very pleasant weather Tuesday for Trick or Treating. Our boys were cowboys (Nate rode in his own horse) and Jenna was a cowgirl. Between them they packed four cap pistols and a water gun. The high sheriff had confiscated all ammunition before we hit the trail. Even with these precautions there were a few casualties along the way, much to the delight of our cowpokes.

We usually walk down Main Street in Cross Plains and then hit several neighbors out in the country. This year we reversed course. By the time we got to Cross Plains most of the trick or treating was over and at least one house had run out of candy having served over 300 kids. Because of this the pile of loot was a bit smaller, but the quality was top notch. We all had a great time.

REMEMBERING HERBERT. Halloween always makes me think of Herbert. Herbert is a mask that belongs to Kenny. I think Kenny bought Herbert in the Haunted Mansion gift shop at Disney World when he was on his senior trip. Herbert is a really ugly, bald headed man with bulging eyes and several deep scars running along his face. When you put Herbert on he covers your entire head allowing you to to tuck the neck of the mask below your shirt collar. Kenny had way too much fun with Herbert and while this story actually happened on some random Sunday morning in the spring I always think of it at Halloween.

Back in the late 1970s there was a dumpster at the intersection of Woodrow Wilson Road (known then as Walton Road) and Highway 25, a very pleasant sight for the Freelands to see out their front door I’m sure. This particular Sunday, Kenny got up and borrowed one of his grandmother’s dresses. Aunt Ruby was a large woman, so he had to stuff the dress with several pillows to fill it out. He slipped Herbert over his head, grabbed a broom and headed out the door (I can’t remember if a wig was part of the outfit or not). I didn’t hear about this until I was at church and several people were commenting on the strange person sweeping around the dumpster. He kept this up until Mrs. Sherrie Wiggins ran off the road as she passed by on her way to Sunday school. It’s funny, there haven’t been any Herbert sightings now that Kenny has kids.

LEAVING HIS MARK. If you visit East Robertson Elementary you will find that many of the concrete blocks near the library entrance have been painted by kids. The kids are chosen to paint a block by a drawing as a Character Counts reward. Jenna got to paint one a couple of years ago. Ben’s turn came Friday. He chose to put a helicopter on his block and Vicki said it turned out really nicely. I can’t wait to see it.

BACK TO FILM. Vicki and I got a digital camera for ourselves for Christmas in 2003. It died while we were in Virginia a few weeks ago so we’ve had to pull out our old 35 mm camera. We have been planning on replacing the camera as its shutter speed is permanently set at 1/30 of a second, not good for catching kids in motion. Even so, it is a convenience to be able to see your snapshots immediately and delete the bad ones right away. While our old camera takes good pictures, going back to film has been a big adjustment. Hopefully we’ll find a deal on a camera soon.

Joe

Mr. John on a Ferryboat

I can’t believe Halloween has rolled around again! But here we are carving pumpkins and getting costumes ready for tomorrow night.

PUMPKIN SHOPPING. We’ve been trying to get over to Steve and Connie Freeland’s to walk their corn maze and get a pumpkin for weeks. It has worked out that every time we had a chance to go we got rain. (The weather even cancelled a field trip for Jenna last week.) This afternoon worked out to be perfect weather. Unfortunately the corn maze had taken a beating from several storms, but the kids enjoyed running through it regardless of its condition.

We came home with a really nice pumpkin. After a bit of looking online Ben decided he wanted to carve a ghost on it. We won’t be home to receive trick-or-treaters tomorrow night, but we’ll leave our jack-o-lantern outside to keep watch on things.

A DAY OF FUN. One of Ben’s best friends is Ethan Bibb. Ethan invited Ben and Wil Swann to celebrate his sixth birthday Saturday. They went to Chuck E. Cheese’s for lunch and returned to Ethan’s house to play away the afternoon. We got one wound up boy back after the fun was over.

BLESSED BY ANOTHER. If you’ve ever been to our church on a Sunday morning chances are real good that Harry Wilson greeted you and shook your hand. That has been his ministry at Mt. Carmel ever since I can remember. Mr. Harry suffered a heart attack Wednesday. His funeral was yesterday. As folks around here reflect on his life we all feel like he raised the bar on living for Christ. One of my fondest memories growing up was riding in his combine with him whenever he was harvesting grain in the field across the road. I spent hours in that combine with him and would have gladly skipped school for more time. They say Saint Peter mans the gate of Heaven. I would not be surprised to know that Harry Wilson is right beside Peter.

ARE YOU A GENIUS? Have you ever played the peg game while waiting for your food at Cracker Barrel? Do you win consistently or are you proud to be “plain dumb” every now and then? A recent trip to Cracker Barrel got Jenna and me talking about the peg game. Many years ago Uncle J C taught me how to solve the puzzle. Jenna got her peg game out and asked me to teach her. Now she can wow and amaze all her friends.

With this on my mind I decided to search Google for “peg game solutions.” What I read was totally amazing. At least two people out there with too much time on their hands have written computer programs to find all the possible solutions to the peg game -- all 131,448 unique solutions that will allow you to claim the title of “genius.” So, are you feeling like an “eg-no-ra-moose” now?

By the way, if you don’t want to cheat but want a tip, start with the empty hole at the middle of one of the sides of the triangle, not in a corner. About two thirds of the solutions start from this position.

MR. JOHN CROSSING THE CUMBERLAND ON A FERRYBOAT (4 of 4--by Nola Simmons). Once upon a time Mr. John and his son were crossing the Cumberland River on a ferryboat. They just rode the car onto the ferryboat and forgot to close the gate!

Mr. John decided he would climb over on the back seat of the car and trim his toenails while they were crossing the river. He took off his shoes and socks and proped one foot upon the back of the front seat and started trimming his toenails. As Mr. John started trimming--the boat started moving--and the car started rolling backwards until caplunge! right into the river went the car, Mr. John, toenails and all. Now what do you think Mr. John did? Y--when that car started down in the water, Mr. John started coming out of that car. He kicked, and kicked, and kicked, until at long last he kicked himself to the top of the water. His son helped him to the banks, where he stood barefooted; soaking wet from the skin out; and even his goat-tee was dripping. But what did Mr. John say? As he quivered and shook, he just stroked his goat-tee said, “By Granny, safe at last!”

NOTE: Aunt Mar remembers hearing this story. She feels this happened in the shallow water as they did retrieve the car. I’m sure this took care of any lingering new car smell.

Joe

Mr. John and Ice Cream

We have had several rainy days this week, but they have been balanced with some really pretty days as well. Our trees are at their peak which makes me wish they would keep their fall colors longer.

HEALING. Jenna got an extra day of fall break as Vicki took her to the doctor to check on her arm on Monday. They took the splint off and her arm was stiff and sore, but she could move it without major discomfort. By Friday she had left her sling behind and was regaining normal use of her right hand.

INDOOR TRAMPOLINE. Will and Darice have a waterbed which was a new thing for Nate when he discovered it at their house last week. The other day Nate found Vicki in our bedroom folding clothes. Climbing on our bed he observed, “Hey Mom, you don’t have a waterbed. You’ve got a jumping bed!” Then he proceeded to prove it.

BODY ART. Another day this week Nate came into the bathroom where Vicki was sorting clothes (I think laundry takes up 50% of her time). He had pulled his right arm inside his shirt and wanted Vicki to leave the bathroom so he could wash his hands. Knowing something was up she told him to go ahead and wash as he wouldn’t bother her. He kept insisting that she leave. This continued for a bit until she finally coaxed him to put his arm back in his shirt sleeve which revealed a dark blue hand and wrist with lines drawn up his arm. Fortunately he had found washable markers and it came off easily.

THE COST OF LIVING. Our washing machine began leaking oil about two years. When the repair man looked at it he told us it would cost more to fix it than to buy a new one and recommended we run it until it died. It washed its last load back on the 6th as Vicki was getting our clothes ready for our trip. We bought a new one to replace it this week.

Due to the size and shape of our bathroom our dryer blocks our washer in. When they came to install the washer they told Vicki that they aren’t allowed to touch a gas dryer and they left. This left the installation job to me after work. Our old washer had serious walking problems and its front feet sat in two rubber coasters which were glued to the floor. In trying to lift the washer out of the coasters I ripped the vinyl floor in a very obvious spot. I was sick when I looked down and saw it. For now Vicki has covered it with a bathroom rug. Nate, calling it a “comfy, blue bed,” wants to sleep on it.

WOMEN’S RETREAT. This weekend Vicki went on a retreat with 26 other women from church. They went to Horton Haven Christian Camp near Lewisburg, Tennessee. She said it was the perfect setting...beautiful weather and surroundings, no children, no cooking, no laundry, etc. They enjoyed Bible study and lots of fun and games. It sounds like everyone had a great time.

MR. JOHN LIKED ICE CREAM (3 of 4-- by Nola Simmons). A long, long time ago, way back when I was a little girl, we used to have ice cream suppers.

On one summer night daddy, mammy, Billie, Anna and I took our ice cream freezer and went across the field to Mr. Len and Miss Scrap’s house [roughly where Steve and Elaine Fisher live today]. John and Robbie [Randolph] were there and Mr. John and Miss Angie came down. You see, Mr. John and Miss Angie lived up the road--that’s why they came down.

When we had ice cream suppers out where I live, we didn’t just serve one saucer full and stop at that, but we made two or three gallons of ice cream and everybody ate all the saucers full that their tummies could hold. Now sometimes, especially if the weather was awfully hot, Mr. John’s tummy could hold a lot of ice cream.

The women folks would make up the ice cream and pour it into the freezer. The men would chip up the ice and pack it with salt. Now everybody would take turns turning that freezer round and round until it got so hard you couldn’t turn it any more. Then the men would put more chipped ice and salt around it and leave it for a little while to ripen.

On this hot summer night they made and froze three gallons of ice cream. Everybody ate until their tummies couldn’t hold another bite. Mr. John had had nine saucers full. As he sat scraping out the last tiny bit of ice cream, Miss Scrap said, “Pap, you needn’t be licking out your saucer, they ain’t no more!” Mr John just stroked his goat-tee and said, “By Granny, don’t care, ‘twant good nohow.”

NOTE: Nola Simmons’ parents were Lee Simmons and Clara Jones. When Clara died Lee married Chloe Fyke. They had seven children in addition to the ones mentioned above. For those of you who rode the school bus with me, one of their boys is Mr. Guthrie Simmons, our bus driver.

Joe

A Relaxing Vacation

We have had a wonderful vacation this week. No one wanted it to end. We had a great time visiting family and Will and Darice live in one of the most picturesque areas of the country to boot. Here's how our trip went. (By the way, the "Mr. John" stories will resume in the next edition.)

DESTINATION CONFUSION. We pointed our van toward Waynesboro, Virginia, about 7:30 Monday morning. We stopped frequently, so it took us about 12 hours to get to our destination.

The kids were really excited about seeing their cousins and we got plenty of "Are we there yet?" Nate was very excited about seeing Alex and Chris (our cousins in Florida) and mentioned seeing them frequently. Each time he did the conversation would go something like this:

"Nate, we aren't going to see Alex and Chris."

"We're not?"

"No."

"Where are we going?"

"To see Cameron, Zachary and Emily."

And every time he would say, "Oh," like this was all news to him. It would start all over again in 30 minutes. These conversations continued on our journey back to Tennessee. This morning Ben gave Nate “cousin identification” lessons using pictures on the fridge saying, “Emily belongs with this family, not with Alex and Chris.” These lessons will probably continue for some time.

PLAY TIME. We spent Tuesday staying around the house letting the kids play together and they had a blast. All the kids have really played well together the whole time.

The Jones kids have all changed since we saw them in February. Of course, Emily has changed the most. She is talking some now. She and I traded winks at the supper table until she got too shy to look at me. One trick of hers is when someone taps or hums the “shave and a haircut” rhythm she will tap or hum the “two bits” response.

One thing the kids did Tuesday was make a movie. Cameron has a digital camera. He flipped on the movie function and they made up a bank robbery story and shot it. It was really cute.

Cameron and Zachary had soccer practice that evening and we all went along. While at the soccer field Jenna decided to try and stand on a soccer ball. The ball rolled out from under her and she fell hard on her elbow. After a trip to the ER she is now sporting a sling on her right arm. The x-ray didn't show a fracture but she'll keep the splint they put on until her doctor makes a decision about it Monday. The splint starts on the upper arm and includes her hand.

Jenna has taken the restriction very well. One day after eating she announced that she was going to the bathroom to “wash her hand.” Another day she pulled on a shirt that has "Soccer Champ" on the front. Seeing this she commented, "I guess I'm not much of one anymore."

BOOK FAIR. Wednesday we went to the Green Valley Book Fair. It is a large warehouse in the middle of the country that has thousands of books for sale. We found some good deals and also got some Christmas shopping done. Ben was, of course, bored within 30 seconds of our arrival. After loading up with books we went to eat at Cici's Pizza and then headed home.

AT THE ORCHARD. Will took a vacation day Thursday (they recently enjoyed a 16 day trip to England and Ireland so he doesn't have much vacation left this year) and we all went to the Carter Mountain Orchard. The orchard overlooks Charlottesville and offers a spectacular view of the surrounding country. We took in a hay ride and picked a few apples for ourselves. Then we went to Charlottesville for a late lunch and came home so the kids could play together.

We stopped for Emily to have her first haircut on the way home. I’m afraid she won’t know how to act the next time she needs a trim without a 10 person audience.

GIRLS SHOPPING DAY. On Friday all the girls went shopping and left all the boys at home (minus Will who was at work). We played a Lego construction game, video games, etc. When the womenfolk returned Zachary had piano lessons. We all went to the city park to feed the ducks and play on the playground while Zachary tickled the ivories.

We got around to grilling steaks Friday night. Each day we would eat such a big and late lunch that no one felt like eating steak. We didn’t make that mistake this time and it was delicious! For dessert we had apple pie made from the apples we had picked the day before.

SCRABBLE. The Jones Scrabble tournaments began Wednesday night. (I skip out on these games as they start around my bedtime and Scrabble isn’t my forté.) Will, Darice, Pauline and Vicki really go at it and bragging rights are always the prize. Upon our departure Vicki claimed two games and Will three games. Pauline and Darice are not push-overs by any means, but the brother-sister competition is very fierce.

HEADING HOME. We pointed our van toward home Saturday. It was a sad parting. They were great hosts which made leaving even more difficult. We didn’t make as many stops and got home in 10 hours. It was nice to settle in our own beds last night.

Joe

Mr. John's First Car

No sooner than I wrote that it was beginning to feel like fall than the temps hit the mid 80s. This only lasted for a few days though. Now things are cooling off and the trees are really starting to show their colors. And the best part is that Fall Break began Friday. A whole week off! We will be on the road tomorrow to visit Will, Darice and their kids. Pauline is going too, so we’ll have a Jones family reunion!

ENGLISH IS HARD TO READ. Unfortunately, our language is not completely phonetic. Jenna found a list of birthstones the other day and came in to inform Vicki that her birthstone is “turkey-os-key.” I sympathize with her. Turquoise is hard to read when it’s the first time you’ve ever seen the word.

EXCITEMENT FOR NOTHING. We’ve had our dirty clothes hamper since we got married. In twelve years of use and three kids climbing on it to sit on the bathroom counter so they can reach the sink, it is far from mint condition. Vicki mentioned the other day at breakfast that she would be looking for a new one. Ben misunderstood and thought Vicki had said she would be buying a hamster. He had about five seconds of excitement before we brought him back down to earth. He has recovered quite well though. At bedtime he announces that he is taking his dirty clothes to the hamster now.

Ben did have some genuine excitement Wednesday night of last week (the 4th). The activities at church ran a bit long and we were behind schedule on getting everyone to bed when we got home. To make matters worse, all the kids needed to take a shower that night. As Jenna was bathing Vicki told Ben to clean up the living room. I happened to be a few steps ahead of him as he headed off to do his chore. When I turned on the light we surveyed a clean room and I said, “Well, Ben, it looks like you don’t have to do anything in here tonight.” When this stroke of luck sunk in he flopped down on the ottoman and said, “Oh Lord, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!”

OFFERINGS OF PRAISE is the name of the musical our choir performed at church this evening. They did a great job! After church all the choir members and their families went to Jimmie and Susanne Pitt’s house (next door for us) to celebrate a job well done. It was a perfect evening for an outdoor party.

MR. JOHN DRIVES HIS FIRST CAR HOME (2 of 4--by Nola Simmons). Do you remember way back when autos first came to this country? Well, Mr. John was one of the first men around home to buy one of these new contraptions.

Way back then, people didn’t have garages for their cars as they do today. They just put them in the barn. Now Mr. John had a barn right close to the house. He and Angie talked it over and decided that the barn was just the right place for the car.

Mr. John went to town and bought his new car--paid cash for it, too--“By Granny”. The car man showed him how to put it into gear--how to crank it up; and maybe showed him how to guide it a little. Anyway Mr. John decided he was all ready to drive it home.

Now do you remember how the roads were way back then? They were not paved at all. Part of the way, they were very muddy, and the small streams had no bridges across them at all.

Do you remember how it felt when you saw one of these contraptions coming down the road? “Y everybody looked and looked and looked.” The mules and horses didn’t like those autos one bit. They were afraid of them.

Well, Mr. John put his car into gear, cranked it up, and got in and started home.

Chug, chug, chug

Bump, bump, bump

Sput, sput, sput

And the farther he went--the faster he drove until, when he got home he was going so fast that he whizzed into the barn and forgot how to stop the car--so he whizzed through the back-end of the barn and that car--and Mr. John landed right on top of the biggest chicken coop-- where he killed his motor. Angie came running out of the house to see what on earth had happened!

But Mr. John just stuck his head out the side of the car and stroked his goat-tee and said, “By Granny, Angie, how did I get up here?”

NOTE: This story is accompanied by a painting by Miss Simmons with the title of the story. It shows what looks like a Model T driving down a muddy road with the chug, bump and sput sounds coming from the car.

Joe

Introducing Mr. John

The trees are just starting to turn colors now. It is predicted that we will have a more vibrant fall than we’ve had the last few years. And with the Pinsons and other farmers picking corn, and Steve and Connie Freeland now open to sell pumpkins and let you get lost in their corn maze, it has truly begun to feel like autumn has arrived.

FIELD TRIP. Ben has been looking forward to his first field trip. All the kindergarten classes at his school went to the Nashville Zoo on Friday. Vicki went as a chaperone. Ben has been counting the days for this ever since Wil’s party. They had a perfect day for the trip, and they really enjoyed it. Vicki was also in charge of one of Ben’s classmates, Riley. She said Riley had more food for lunch than she and Ben together.

At one point Vicki had to call Riley back as he was running ahead of them. As Riley came back Ben said to him, “I told you to listen to her. She can be mean.”

KIDISMS. Jenna informed us yesterday that she would no longer be making up her bed on Sundays as it’s a day of rest.

The other day when Ben was packing to spend the night with Mom and Aunt Mar he was listing all the things he had packed with us to make sure he hadn’t forgotten anything. His list went something like this, “shorts, shirt, underwear, animals, jamamas?--jamamas?--jamamas?--jamamas?” When he got stuck on that word he kept looking like he knew something was wrong but he couldn’t figure out what it was. When I finally said “pajamas” it all clicked for him.

SHOPPING FUN. Vicki is still faithful to her diet and is steadily getting to her goal. This is causing her to have to redo her whole wardrobe. She has gotten rid of four bags of clothes that no longer fit.

Two of Vicki’s really good friends are Michelle Garst and Tracy Cockroft. They went shopping Saturday at the Catholic Ladies of Charity consignment sale. You can find some really good deals there as well as things you can’t imagine anyone in their right mind designing.

When these three are together a good time is had by all (right Angi?). They had a great time calling out to each other suggestions of some hideous clothes. In the dressing room they were cutting up and critiquing the outfit each one was trying on. They got to having so much fun that total strangers were joining in on the fun, giving opinions and asking for feedback.

I think Weight Watchers went out the window when they ate lunch after shopping. Vicki says you can’t eat by the rules ALL the time.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY. Saturday was Pauline’s birthday. We celebrated with a big dinner at her house this evening. Jenna and Ben spent a lot of time making birthday cards for her. Ben dictated what he wanted written in his card and later he was giddy just thinking about what he had me write. Here’s his message, “Happy Birthday! Thank you for giving me all those sweets when I spend the night. I love you. Amen. Benton.”

SERIES INTRODUCTION. The other day I stopped at Aunt Mar’s to pick up the kids (they get off the bus there). She had been going through a drawer in her dresser and ran across a notebook she shared with me. Inside were four essays about her grandfather, John Hancock (1849-1930, my great-great-grandfather). These essays are really neat and I thought I’d share them exactly as written over the next few weeks as “MR. JOHN” stories.

John Hancock married Angeline Bell. They had six children. Their oldest son, Jim, was Aunt Mar’s father. A daughter of Jim's we all call Aunt Scrap (John Arianna) lived next door to Aunt Mar as she was growing up. She married Len Work. Aunt Mar’s dad and Uncle Len ran a country store. Aunt Mar remembers pumping gas when it was $0.20 a gallon.

The essays were written by Nola Simmons. Miss Simmons was a nurse and never married. She served in the Army in World War II, in Italy, I think. Miss Nola lived with Aunt Scrap after Uncle Len died in 1952 because Aunt Scrap’s health was starting to fail. Miss Nola must have written these essays as she and Aunt Scrap talked.

MR. JOHN (1 of 4). May I introduce you to Mr. John? Now Mr. John wasn’t nearly as tall as Mr. Jones over here, nor nearly as fat as Mr. Hatcher. Mr. John was a short thin man that sorta reminded you of Rip Van Winkle--except that Mr. John hadn’t been asleep for twenty years. He was very much alive.

Mr. John was a kind old gentleman, but a funny one too, who liked to make people laugh. He never said ugly words. He just stroked his goat-tee and said “By Granny”.

We kids used to get so tickled at Mr. John’s “goat-tee”. He sat with his head back so that “goat-tee” stuck almost straight out in front.

Mr. John and his ‘goat-tee live dearly in our memories.

NOTE: Aunt Mar remembers her grandfather was short. When driving he was not tall enough to see over the steering wheel but looked through it as he headed down the road. Now that you’ve formed a picture of Mr. John you’ll be ready for the next story.

Joe

Fall Is Here

As I drive around I see that the green is just beginning to drain out of the tree leaves, the mornings have a hint of crispness in the air, and the fall rains are starting their cycle. And when it rains we seem to get 4-5 inches at a time.

PLAN C. Speaking of all the rain, Wil Swann was supposed to have his 6th birthday party down at the river Saturday. They had planned to have a cowboy celebration complete with a hay ride and panning for gold in the river. The storm that blew through that morning (accompanied by a tornado warning) made the ground too soft for us to get down to the river. Kenny and Lori shifted to Plan B: a round up back at the ranch (the barn at their house). I mention all this because for Ben, who had been so excited about going to Wil’s party all week, it was sort of disconcerting to get up the morning of the party and see it raining so hard that you wonder if animals are off somewhere lining up in pairs.

By mid morning it had turned off pretty and things were looking up for the party. When we all arrived that afternoon another front of dark clouds weren’t that far behind. They decided to proceed with the hay ride. All the kids were given hats; bandannas; water guns and small, slightly rotten gourds and sworn in for fighting the Indians. We took off toward K-D Orchard. Half way there the clouds let loose and we had to take refuge in the Henry’s chicken house until several moms came to the rescue. Kenny, who spins a great story, entertained with the tale of Samson and Delilah while we waited. The Indians (Mac, Andrew and Brandon Tate) almost got soaked while waiting to attack all the cowboys and cowgirls.

Our kids all had a great time in spite of the weather. We gave Wil a pair of cap pistols for his birthday. The boys are wishing we had bought them a set of their own as well. Jenna is glad we didn’t. At any rate, the party was a hit with our crew. We’ve had two cowboys and a cowgirl running around ever since. Ben even slept in his cowboy hat last night. It looks sort of funny where he mashed the brim in odd places as he slept. At least he didn’t have cow licks in his hair.

BARBECUE AND EGGS. I forgot to report last time that the Cross Plains Heritage Commission had its annual Barbecue Supper on Saturday the 16th. We fed over 300 people and made about $2000.

Vicki was asked to make two pies as a dessert contribution. We don’t have a lot of fridge/freezer space at our house but Pauline has ample room at her house for our overflow. When Vicki was ready to make her pies the other Saturday she had the boys bring our pie crusts and a few eggs from Pauline’s. Pauline bagged up the goods and sent the boys over. Vicki about had a cow as she looked out at the boys walking across the yard. Ben was carrying the bag with the carton of eggs and how those eggs survived the trip is beyond me. He was dancing like a wild man and slinging the bag of eggs in an eccentric orbit around his head. Sixteen people got slices of fudge pie made with pre-beaten eggs.

SHE GOT ME. When we kiss the kids good night Jenna thinks its funny to try and kiss us on the lips. Well, she was quicker than I thought she’d be tonight and hit her target. Acting in mock disgust I said, “Eww, that’s almost as bad as kissing your own mother on the lips!” (Sorry Mom.)

Ben tries the same sort of thing by giving a slobbery kiss. I finally got tired of it and fought back by holding him down and licking one side of his face. This broke him for a while, but his memory is pretty short.

SELF EMBARRASSMENT. Just yesterday she was sitting at the table reading the badges they got from Wil’s party. In trying to sound out “deputy” she overemphasized the middle syllable and said “de-POO-tee” and Vicki and I didn’t let that one slide by (she can be sensitive about mispronouncing words). Even better was the other evening in the middle of supper when Jenna suddenly looked at Vicki and asked with a tone of accusation, “Mom, where’s my fork?” Vicki calmly replied, “It’s right there in your hand.” Jenna’s face went from stern to sheepish in record time.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! I want to recognize Bill and Marnie Lind for their 60th wedding anniversary tomorrow! (Bill piloted the B-29 my Dad flew on in World War II.) They will be celebrating at their church in Minneapolis on October 8. Their oldest daughter will be preaching that day. I wish I could be there. I’ll be thinking about you on your special day.

Joe