Tales of Christmas

We have enjoyed a most wonderful Christmas this year. Fortunately we dodged the flu bug that has been going around, or maybe we had it several weeks ago. The fall semester came to a close last Friday and we slid right in to the holidays.

THE HOBBIT. One thing we did last weekend in celebration of the holidays was all go out to see the latest Hobbit flick, The Desolation of Smaug. We went for a matinee and enjoyed eating out and some shopping afterwards. The movie was excellent, but given how far they got into the book with this installment we are all left wondering what’s left the show in the final part next year.

A SIGN OF THE TIMES. Vicki gets a lot of her shopping done early, and a good part of that is done online now, but she still enjoys doing some last minute shopping right before Christmas. One thing we noticed last Saturday—and which Vicki also commented on each time she went shopping—was the absence of people. Traffic has been light, parking easy, and stores somewhat empty. It has really left us wondering just how much of this is due to online sales. Whatever the cause, the way we shop is changing and our shopping experiences today may become stories my grandchildren have a hard time imagining, sort of like kids today imagining life without a cell phone.

HOLIDAY ACTIVITIES. I’ll begin reporting on our holiday activities with our church service last Sunday. Vicki and Jenna sang What Child Is This as a duet with Sharon Robinson accompanying on the harp just before the service began. I think they knocked it out of the part as did several other people who commented on their song after the service was over.

Monday evening found us at Kenny and Lori’s for their annual Christmas party where we ate more than we should have and got a chance to visit with friends.

We went to church Tuesday evening for the Christmas Eve service. Bro. Bill and Cindy hurried away after the service was over as his youngest son, Barrett, had taken his wife, Noel, to the hospital because she was in labor with their first child. They live near Atlanta, but Bro. Bill and Cindy arrived in plenty of time to see their latest grandson born the next morning.

Christmas morning we opened presents here at our house and went over to Mrs. Connie’s for her traditional brunch. That evening we went over to Mom’s and ate supper.

Thursday and Friday were quiet, but today we enjoyed the company of Grant and Robin Luton as they dropped by for lunch while visiting Middle Tennessee.

All in all it has been a very typical Christmas for us. We are, if nothing else, predictable. I’m not complaining.

SO, WHAT DID WE GET FOR CHRISTMAS? Christmas get’s smaller as the kids get older. The boys were content with gift cards to buy games for their Nexuses and Nintendo DSes. Jenna simply wanted money to fund her trip to Haiti. Given that and some plans we have for the upcoming year we were happy to keep it small. I think Nate gets the coolest toy award for the Perplexus that he received.

I repeated my gift idea from last year and gave Vicki, the kids, and Mom copies of the third and forth years of the Swann Family News in book form.

I think this will be the last time I attempt to write for the year, so, I wish you a Happy New Year and hope to catch you again before school resumes the week after next.

Joe

Counting the Days!

The marker board on the fridge says seven days until Christmas. When I picked Jenna and Nate up from Mom’s this afternoon Jenna said, “Just another half day of school!” I think we’re all looking forward to the holidays.

SICKNESS. So the last time I wrote Vicki had been sick. This weekend it was me. At first I thought I had gotten some bad chicken. Five days in to this I’m thinking stomach virus. I know what I’m wanting for Christmas.

WILL SHE EVER LEARN? I guess Maggie is protecting us, but I'm not so sure it's worth it. The other day I said to her, "Maggie, I sure wish you would quit tangling with that skunk at night." She just looked up at me with her big eyes and wagged her tail (happy for the attention I’m sure). It has taken a week for the odor to go away.

GROWTH SPURT. I looked at Ben the other day and said, "Okay, boy, it's time to get the folding ruler back out." Sure enough, he's grown some in the last few weeks. At last measure he is over 5'10". I wonder how long it will be before he has me and Vicki beat. His voice is also starting to crack some so he's definitely leaving boyhood behind now. Poor Nate is being left behind, but I assure him that he’ll be making up the difference two or three years.

THE MISSING LINK. I've mentioned before that Jenna has an art class at school. I've been impressed with some of the things she has sketched in her art journal, but this latest assignment, a self portrait, was rather hideous. We teased her about looking like the missing link. She redid it and the second attempt looked a lot better.

Ben was looking at her journal the other night and asked, "Why are you taking art?"

"It's required," replied Jenna. "You have to take it to graduate."

"You mean I have to take art! I don't want to take art."

"Well, you don't have to take art. You can take drama instead."

"Good. I'll take drama." Then our clueless son asked, "What's drama? What do you have to do in drama?"

Jenna explained, "Well, there's some acting and you have to write some papers."

Immediately Ben hugged Jenna's art journal and said, "I love art!"

DRAMATICS. Speaking of drama, Nate is participating in a children's drama group at church called "Drama at the Cross" or DATC. They've performed twice, their first time back in the fall and again this past Sunday, and have done very well. Everything they've done so far has been signing and creative movement to songs. I'm hoping they will start doing some short sketches as well. Nate thoroughly enjoys it and does a great job.

BASKETBALL. Ben’s regular basketball season ended Monday night. The JV team, on which Ben is a starter, played their hearts out but never won a game. The middle school varsity boys did pull off a win Monday night to end the season with a 1-9 record. It was a well played game and could have gone either way. Ben is bummed that we didn’t sign him up for Upward Ball because all that is left for his team is a tournament in January. Meanwhile, Nate’s team has begun to practice and his season will start up next month.

Joe

Woman Down

We have enjoyed unseasonably warm temperatures in the last week, but the weather system that moved through yesterday brought things back to normal. Fortunately we dodged the bullet on an ice storm. Schools were closed today in anticipation of the ice we didn’t get.

REMEMBERING ICE STORMS OF THE PAST. All this talk about ice storms made the boys ask about how serious an ice storm can really be. They’ve never lived through a bad one. I’d rather have two feet of snow.

The most recent major ice storm we had here was in 1994. I was in Knoxville for that one and the temperature there didn’t drop as low as it did here so all I saw was a lot of rain. Vicki, on the other hand, wasn’t so lucky since that was her first year to teach in Springfield. I had planned to come home that weekend but the weather prevented that. The power was out around here for several days. I remember calling Vicki one time and her telling me the only light she had left was a book light and that she was so cold her eyeballs hurt. When I finally got to come home I was astounded to see all the piles of tree limbs scattered around Aunt Mar’s yard and we have Mom on video recounting how she and Aunt Mar sat in a dark house the first night of the storm watching all the explosions as the ice weighed down and snapped the power lines or the overhanging tree limbs as well as shorting out transformers.

The ice storm that left a big impression on me happened back in 1974. As I recall it was shortly after the first of the year. We lost power for several days in this storm as well. (It seems like the power was off for at least a week but I hesitate to trust the forty year old memory of a then seven year old boy.) However long it was off I remember the only heat we had was from the gas logs in the den and a kerosene heater so Mom, Aunt Mar, and I all slept in the pull out couch. We warmed our food as best we could atop the kerosene heater. And someone came by with a generator connected to the PTO of their tractor and provided power for our freezer to keep the food from thawing out. One night all the neighbors came over to sled down our hill. This was great fun until an ice laden tree limb fell a few feet away from one of the sleds putting an end to the adventure.

However you look at it an ice storm has the ability to bring life to a halt in a way that the snows we get around here cannot match because snow has less of a potential to knock out the power. I remember it was a few years after that last storm that our electric cooperative went to work moving all their power lines to taller poles that are next to the roads.

ONE SICK VICKI. Whatever has been going around Vicki and I both got it this week, though she wins the contest for being the sickest. I have been dealing with a head cold since before Thanksgiving, but the bug really caught up with me by Monday making me leave work after lunch. I had rebounded by the next morning. By early Wednesday Vicki started experiencing aches, chills, etc. She got everything she could ready for Awana that night and has been on the couch practically the whole time since. I am glad to say she is on the mend, but it still may take a day or two yet before she begins to feel well.

RAISING MONEY FOR HAITI. Jenna is working hard to raise money to fund her own trip to Haiti. Last Saturday our church and Long Hollow Church sponsored a 5K run as a fund raiser. Jenna (and Vicki) got busy and made sausage and biscuits and hot chocolate to sell at a booth she had there. Jenna also sold chocolate covered pecans. She wound up raising over $400 for herself and has probably gone over the $500 by now. If she keeps that up she'll be able to pay her own way!

DRAWING ON THE WALL. For years East Robertson Elementary has held a monthly drawing for students who have had good behavior to paint one of the concrete blocks in the hall by the library. Each of our kids has gotten this honor and Nate has now painted a second block. This time he simply printed the text of Philippians 4:13—I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me—along with a cross, his name, and the date. His other brick drawn in 2010 features green aliens, flying saucers, and a race car with flames coming out the back.

Joe

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am stuffed. I have eaten more Thanksgiving meals than should be allowed. A week ago today the Springfield Middle School cafeteria sent our office plates from their feast. Last Friday Vicki and I ate Thanksgiving lunch with Nate at his school. Sunday we had a pot luck dinner at church. And then there was today.

FAVORITE MEMORIES. One thing that is engrained in my mind is Aunt Mar telling about how they always killed hogs on Thanksgiving Day because it was cold enough that they didn’t have to worry about the meat going bad. I thought of her when I woke up this morning and the thermometer read 15°.

Vicki commented on a couple of favorite memories as we were getting ready to eat dinner this afternoon. First was Ben whistling Amazing Grace as he was sweeping the back hall earlier in the day. Mom was here by that point and she had walked to the foyer to play the piano. This too was another favorite holiday memory for us.

Of course, one thing that was never a favorite memory, or taste, for me was the ham salad. Mom or Aunt Mar used to make that with the left over ham every year after Thanksgiving and Christmas. I never got used to that taste. They served the ham salad to Vicki once because she has bad memories of it too.

CELEBRATING. Our Thanksgiving was pretty low key. We spent the morning cooking and cleaning the house. Mom came over around 2:00 and we were sitting to eat by 3:00. Our menu was the typical fare: ham, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, green beans, squash dressing, cranberry sauce, deviled eggs, and rolls with carrot cake for dessert.

When we finished eating we pulled out a DVD of old home movies. This particular disc began with Nate’s birth in February 2003 and had footage through April of that year. This too was another favorite memory of our Thanksgiving this year.

THE LION KING. Jenna attended the Beta convention Monday and Tuesday of this week. We left right after church and I took her and four other girls to Opryland Hotel. (It took several vehicles to get the contingent from East Robertson there.) They have spent the last few weeks working really hard to prepare a medley of music from The Lion King for the talent show: building props for a set, getting costumes together, and practicing their singing and dancing. I had to get Jenna to school early all last week as they worked to perfect their act. They were one of 15 school competing in the group talent tryouts and made the cut for the top 5 to perform their song for the entire convention. Unfortunately they were not one of the top 2 acts to go on to the national convention. Vicki went on Monday and filmed the tryout. It looked like all their hard work paid off to me.

HOOP ACTION. We are half way through Ben’s basketball season and he seems to be thoroughly enjoying it. The best games I watched were on Monday night against Jo Byrns. Ben played most of the JV game and held his own with six points to his credit. He looks like he’s getting more comfortable out there on the court. Ben also got some decent game time in the varsity game playing almost all of the second quarter. He just missed a buzzer shot at half time. The boys wound up losing both games, but they were close and made Jo Byrns earn those wins.

The way the schedule worked out the first five games were all away games. So now the next five will all be at home which will be convenient. I’m looking forward to seeing what the rest of the season holds.

MOVIES. Somehow Vicki and I have managed to squeeze in a couple of movies along with all the other family activities. Last Friday evening we went out on a date to Opry Mills Mall where we ate at the food court and watched Gravity. That flick will certainly keep you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. Then yesterday we decided to start our Thanksgiving break off right by going to see Catching Fire. This film certainly lives up to The Hunger Games as its sequel and we really enjoyed seeing it.

A CLOSE CALL. I had just settled into bed one night last week when I heard Maggie start barking and growling right outside my window. And then...I smelled...the skunk. Amazing how quickly that odor permeated the house. Fortunately it was only a warning shot and Maggie didn’t get sprayed. The stench was a distant memory by morning. We dodged that one.

When I told Mom about our nocturnal visitor she reminded me of a story from when she and Aunt Linda were in high school and a skunk got under their grandparent’s house. They weren’t so fortunate as we were and the smell got into all their clothes. Mom and Aunt Linda were both on the basketball team and all their teammates were trying to figure out where the skunk smell was coming from in the locker room. Mom said they both kept quiet and hoped no one would notice it was them.

Joe

Falling Leaves

We’ve had a few cold days in the last week. It’s been a pleasure to see the countryside glistening with frost in the mornings. As for Maggie, we’ve dug out an old dog house and placed it on the back porch with a nice warm bed inside. Now I just need to rig up a door flap and she’ll be all set.

LEAVES. Last Saturday the boys and I went over to Mom’s to mulch leaves. It was a pleasant morning and we put in at least three hours taking care of all the leaves within about 100 feet of the house. We chopped what we could and pushed the rest out to the field with the mower. As we were leaving Nate commented that we had done a good job. I agreed and then added, “Now look up.” He was distressed to see that there are still plenty of leaves up there just waiting for a good rain or strong wind to bring them down. At least they won’t be as thick as they could have been had we not worked on them last weekend.

That afternoon we worked on the leaves in our yard. It was under protest since our trees haven’t finished shedding yet either.

SCARED OF DOGS. The kids and I bring a boy to church on Wednesday nights who wouldn’t otherwise get to go. This boy is Ben’s age so Ben is the one to go to the door to get him if he is not already outside. We usually get a good laugh because as Ben is walking to their door a whole pack of small, yapping dogs assembles for all directions. Some come from the neighbors with others come from the boy’s home, jumping through every window imaginable on a warm day.

Now that Ben has basketball practice in the afternoons it is Nate’s responsibility to go to the door. Nate is not too keen on running the gauntlet of all those barking dogs to get to the front door. The other day we drove up and there were no dogs to sound the alarm. He was relieved. Naturally I started barking as soon as Nate opened the door to get out. I was impressed. I didn’t know he could close the truck door that fast.

THE SPORTS SECTION. Basketball season got under way Monday night with a game against Springfield Middle. Nate had Scouts so we missed the game, but we didn’t figure Ben would get any game time as there was no JV game. Turns out he got to play the last bit of the game, was fouled, and made two free throw shots. If Ben wasn’t excited Vicki made up for it.

Thursday night they played Coopertown Middle. There was a JV game this time and Ben got to play most of the game. He didn’t score but we could tell things were starting to come together for him as he played. Mom enjoyed watching this game. She and I left before the varsity games so that Jenna and Nate could get their homework done. Ben got about four minutes of game time in the varsity game too but didn’t score there either.

CHRISTMAS SHOPPING HAS OFFICIALLY BEGUN. Vicki and Jenna headed out with some friends this morning for their annual trip to the Christmas Village over at the Nashville Fairgrounds. Vicki told me what all they planned to do today before going out the door. When I heard the itinerary I simply said, “See you tomorrow.” At any rate, they will come home some time tonight having bought a lot of Christmas goodies and caught a bit of the Christmas spirit. I am fine with that as long as we don’t run over Thanksgiving getting to Christmas.

Joe

A New Smile!

Everything moves so fast this time of year. Thanksgiving in three weeks, Christmas in seven, next thing you know it’ll be 2014!

NEW TEETH. Mom got her new teeth yesterday. I don’t know when I’ve seen her look this happy. She has plenty to get used to when it come to wearing them, but she is truly pleased with her new chops. For those of you who haven’t seen Mom since the surgery it didn’t leave her horribly disfigured. We had all by this point come to not pay much attention to the difference, but then, it’s not so easy to overlook something like that when it’s your own appearance.

I must say that I am proud of Mom. She has held her head up and carried on with life these last six months, and I am glad she now has these new teeth to help her enjoy life all the more. She certainly has an extra sparkle in her eye and lilt in her voice that wasn’t there before.

TRUNK OR TREAT. I mentioned last time that we had postponed our Trunk or Treat due to the forecasted weather. First of all, Halloween night did turn out to be windy and somewhat rainy so we made a good decision. Fortunately that was the worst there was. Several groups in our community rescheduled their events and if kids played their cards right they had the opportunity to collect candy three or four different nights!

Sunday evening turned out to be very pleasant for us. I don’t know how many came but I was busy handing out candy from the back of our van the whole time. I know they ran out of hot dogs.

We didn’t dress up with a family theme this year. Jenna and her friend Maegan decided to be Halloween Fairies at school so Jenna reused her costume Sunday night. The rest of us were going to be stick men but at the last minute Vicki and Nate decided to be mimes. Nate has a dramatic flare about him and he really got into that act. This, of course, got me going on all sorts of lame puns and since Vicki had to stay in character she couldn’t even groan aloud, though she did like it when I asked her if she would be mime. She got the last laugh of the evening when she had taken her makeup off and said, “Well now I can’t think of anything to say!”

PRACTICE GAME. We had a practice game at Knox Doss Middle School last night. Our team looked really rough out there on the court. Ben and his fellow seventh graders are facing a whole new game with middle school ball and they’re going to need some time to wrap their minds around that. I think they are about to start playing practice games against the high school team which wouldn’t be much different from what they were up against last night.

SOUND SLEEPERS. I used to be a sound sleeper but that is changing as I get older, but the loud crash that happened at our house around 3:20 this morning should have awakened the entire family. It certainly woke Maggie up because she started barking and she sleeps outside on the back porch!

I knew the sound came from the boys room upstairs and it didn’t take me long to discover what happened. The boys have Pauline’s old TV upstairs. They’ve set up a whole gaming corner with the papasan we bought a few months ago. In all the rearranging of furniture the TV stand is right next to Ben’s bed. I learned at breakfast that Ben was having a dream where he was falling and this caused him to kick the TV. I also learned he was awake but playing possum when I came up to check on them.

HEALTHY DOG. I’m not easily startled but Maggie got me really good one day last week. I was working on a little project out in the shop and was running a 2x4 through the table saw. It was warm so I was wearing shorts and had the doors open. That dog walked up behind me and stuck her cold nose on the back of my leg. Fortunately I had caught sight of her tail out of the corner of my eye or I would have jumped over a running table saw.

Joe

Playing at a Whole New Level

We had a cold spell this past weekend. I’ve been surprised at how long our trees have held their green. They seem to be running about two weeks behind this year. Bill Chatman is plowing the corn fields to sow wheat and the Pinsons have turned their attention to harvesting soybeans.

PLAYING FOR THE INDIANS. Ben has moved up to a whole new level of basketball. Last Monday (the 21st) he tried out for the middle school basketball team and made it! He tried not to let it show but he was pretty anxious that night as he waited for the roster of new players to be posted the next day. Ben now has practice every day after school until 5:00 which he seems to really enjoy. They are scheduled for a ten game season with games every Monday and Thursday beginning November 11, and there’s a tournament when we return to school in January. There’s also a Junior Varsity schedule with probably half a dozen games but we haven’t received that yet. That’s where Ben will get his game time this year.

Nate, on the other hand, will be playing Upward ball again this season. His practices will start up after Thanksgiving with games every Saturday in January and February.

FALL CAMPOREE. The Boy Scouts had their Fall Camporee this weekend. Ben, Nate, and I went. The only bad part about the whole trip was the cold spell. Saturday morning we woke up to a morning low of 29°. Let’s just say I did learn it is possible to put on an extra pair of socks without getting out of my sleeping bag.

The objective for this Camporee was to build a ball kicking machine. Each troop constructed their machine and goal posts from all natural materials by using poles lashed together with ropes. The contraptions were judged on various things and out troop won second place for kicking machine design and kicking accuracy.

Speaking of Scouting, Ben received merit badges for Basketry, Sculpture, and Soil and Water Conservation Tuesday night. We were hoping that he would receive his Second Class Scout rank this time but scheduling the Scoutmaster’s conference never worked out. Ben says he wants to earn First Class by the time Nate crosses over from Cub Scouts in January. I know he has a lot done on that, but I am thinking basketball will make that challenging for him.

POSTPONING HALLOWEEN. We normally have our Trunk or Treat at church on Halloween night. We are postponing it to Sunday night this year due to a weather system that is predicted to move through right at the time for the even tonight. The forecast is for several inches of rain with the possibility of hail, strong winds, and even tornados. Hopefully this storm won’t be packing it’s predicted punch, but we rescheduled to be on the safe side. To that end, Happy Halloween, weather permitting.

Joe

A Week Full of Saturdays

If you have to stay home during your time off then the best thing you can have is a week full of days that all feel like Saturday! To top it all off we had church at the park today and we couldn’t have had a more perfect morning for it.

HUMOR IN UNEXPECTED PLACES. I got to spend Thursday morning with my cousin Amanda and we had a wonderful time. Since Sarah and Jason didn’t have a chance to see our museum here in Cross Plains Amanda decided to come back and check it out with me as the museum has a lot of pictures of interest, most notably for us: senior class pictures of Mom and Aunt Linda’s classes, basketball team pictures from when Mom and Aunt Linda played ball, and an old group school picture with their mother, Nellie, in it. (We have very few pictures of Nellie.)

Amanda and I had a great time together, but what started the day off with a laugh was when I decided to pull out Nellie’s old high school diploma to show Amanda. (Nellie is my grandmother and Amanda’s great grandmother.) Nellie graduated in 1923. Her diploma is framed and is in great shape, however, the brown paper used to cover the back of the frame was so old and brittle I decided it was a lost cause to try to keep it so I brushed it into the trash. That’s when I discovered the text printed on the cardboard used to hold the diploma in place. Part of the text was cut away when the cardboard was trimmed to fit the frame but what survives brought a chuckle.

The cardboard must have been from a box that held a burial vault that was made by the Champion Chemical Company on Springfield, Ohio. (A little research on the web and I see they are still in business.) According to what’s printed here the vault was not only rust proof but ghoul proof as well!

That’s right. You did read it correctly. “Ghoul proof” is not a typo on my part. Boy, that leaves a lot of unanswered questions!

By the way, the diploma features something of a transcript showing the subjects in which Nellie earned credits. These include Arithmetic, Algebra, Plane Geometry, English Grammar, Rhetoric, English Literature, American Literature, Beginners’ Latin, Caesar, Cicero, Ancient History, Medieval and Modern History, American History, Biology, Chemistry, Sewing, and Cooking.

END OF AN ERA. I suppose I’ve eaten my last meal at Thomas Drugs. After 23 years Debbie Greene is closing the lunch counter (the soda fountain will continue to serve ice cream, milk shakes, and other treats). Amanda, Mom, and I ate there Thursday. Mom and I also ate there Monday. They’ve had a steady stream of people like us trying to squeeze a last meal in. We will miss them, but I think some of their recipes will show up on the menu at True’s Barbecue.

YOU OWE ME. Several weeks ago Kenny hired the kids to help him pick apples for a couple of afternoons. Last week he asked them to give him their hours so he could settle up and this week he sent them a check. Kenny being Kenny he decided to mess with Nate so Nate got a slip of paper with the following written on it:

Received Bill as Follows

Jenna: $15
Benton: $12
Nate: $6
---------------
Total: $33

Deduct

Taxes @ 20%: $6.60
Sponge rental: $1.20
Apron Use: $0.50
Water: $0.70
---------------
Total: $9.00

Deduct from lowest amount.

Pay
Jenna: $15
Benton: $12

Nate owes me $3.00 [This was underlined and highlighted.]
Please pay ASAP

Nate was astonished. We all knew about this and played along. After he had fussed a bit I finally said, “Nate, I think you need to take this up with Mr. Kenny. Do you want me to drive you over there?” Well, he did, so we went.

The first thing out of Nate’s mouth when we got there was, “Mr. Kenny, you are an unfair man.” Nate listened patiently as Kenny launched into this long dissertation about how we all have to pay taxes, etc. He even offered to work for free but Kenny would have none of that (though he did knock 50¢ off the bill since Nate never used an apron). And when Kenny got done Nate insisted that he was still an unfair man. Of course, Kenny came clean before we left, letting Nate know he had done a good job and that he had earned his $6 without owing anything. It was very funny.

You know, I’m proud of Nate on a couple of levels here. First of all, he took the joke very well. He doesn’t like it that I’m writing this up, but I told him he’d look back on this someday and laugh. Of course, now he’s trying to figure out how to get Kenny back (Kenny, you have been warned).

On another level I am proud of the way Nate acted when he didn’t know this was a joke. Sure, he was upset to think he had to pay $3 to pick Kenny’s apples, but he decided to go and confront Kenny about it and did so with more professionalism than you would expect from a ten year old. He took up for himself and didn’t back down from his position. I was very glad to see that.

Joe

Sawdust

One of the things that always excited me about this time of year is watching the combines lumbering around the fields picking corn. I enjoyed riding combines as a kid and spent many hours in the cab with Mr. Harry Wilson when he was in the field across from home. Most of the corn is in now and it won’t be too long before farmers begin to harvest soybeans.

FALL BREAK. We are on fall break this week. Vicki and the kids left immediately after church to spend a few days in Georgia (they return this evening). I had a chore to do at work and fall break was the best time to do it so I stayed behind.

I had great intentions of writing a week ago but life got crazy as we approached the end of the first grading period. (I don’t say this as an apology, but as a lament for the stories I didn’t write down and have now forgotten--life happens.) We had projects to make and tests to study for. Poor Jenna lives in her biology textbook. I keep telling her four years from now when she comes back to visit her high school teachers she will thank Mrs. Lyons for being so tough. At any rate, we’ve all been ready for the break.

Jenna texted a picture to me while they were on the road to the Jones’ house. Vicki told the boys they needed to make birthday cards for Cameron so they go busy in the back of the van. Ben knew something didn’t look right and handed his card up front for Vicki and Jenna to read. He had misspelled his own name -- “Bention.” His only defense was that his brain had already turned to mush now that he was on “spring” break.

Fall break, son. You’re on fall break. Spring break happens in March.

SHOP TIME. One nice thing about some time off is I get to work in my shop. Rick and Sharon Robinson asked me to make a picnic table for them and I have been plugging away at it when I can. This table is one of the square, four bench type so it’s a little more involved than building a typical table. I was able to make a major push forward this week and the frame is done. All I lack now are the bench seats and table top. When that’s done I can get started on an outdoor nativity scene.

A FUN VISIT. My cousins Sarah and Jason visited this weekend. They stayed with the Dees in Ashland City and did several fun things around Nashville including a visit to the Grand Ole Opry and the Hermitage. We were honored that they wanted to spend part of their time visiting us as well.

Everyone drove over from Ashland City on Saturday and we ate lunch together at Mom’s. It was such a beautiful day that we ate outside. After lunch Sarah wanted to see a few sites in the area where our family lived so we took a driving tour to show her some of the houses, churches, and school campuses that had played a part in her family history. They all came back Sunday morning for church and we ate once again outside at Mom’s. We had a great time catching up with Sarah and getting to know Jason. It’s hard to believe they’ve been married two years now.

Joe

Touches of Color

We are enjoying some very pleasant fall weather, and I spotted a tree yesterday that is starting to show its autumn colors. It is also the time of year you can easily get behind a combine convoy on the road as they move from field to field harvesting corn.

HOMECOMING AND OTHNER ACTIVITIES. Last week was Homecoming for East Robertson High School and Jenna has been involved in all sorts of activities. She spent several Sunday afternoons working on the sophomore float and then the previous weekend she helped decorate one of the hallways at school. She rooked Ben into helping her out with this. Between this and her studies she has been one busy girl and I am proud to see her rise to the occasion and handle all the responsibility.

Friday night, the culmination of all their efforts, featured a parade through town before the football game. The game went long due to the activities at halftime. Afterwards Vicki brought Jenna and three friends -- Katie, Mackenzie, and Maegan -- home for the night. Poor Nate was trapped in the house with all those girls (I'll get to why in a moment) but he merely disappeared into his room and did whatever Nate's do for the evening.

The next morning the crew at my house enjoyed a pancake breakfast before all the girls went home. That afternoon Vicki and Jenna worked at the East Robertson Elementary carnival and that evening they met up with Maegan for some tennis. All in all it was a very full weekend for them.

ARTISTIC FLAIR. One of the classes Jenna has this year is art. They are starting out with pencil sketching and I must say the girl is pretty good. Vicki and I have both been impressed with her work whenever she’s shown us her sketchbook.

I am really very envious of the opportunity she has. I wanted to have art the entire time I was in school but it was never offered. Jenna keeps saying, “Dad, it’s so easy. Just pick up your pencil and start drawing. You just need to practice.” I know she’s right, it’s just by the time I settle down most evenings to do things like that it’s bedtime and my eyes are crossing.

LOST IN THE WOODS. This past weekend, while Jenna was involved in all the Homecoming activities, Ben and I were camping with his Scout Troop. The focus of this campout was to work on orienteering requirements and I was quite impressed with Ben’s skills here.

We got up Saturday morning for a day full of compass activities. In the first activity the boys had to walk a straight line course for 100 feet with a sack over their heads with noting but a compass visible to them as they held it at their waist. For the second activity the boys were given a set of compass headings and had to work their way around a course of flags in a circle about 50 feet in diameter. Ben did really well in both of these.

After lunch the boys were divided into teams of two and giving compass headings that took them through the woods. We had about 75 acres of woods to work in and there were several buckets with golf balls scattered through the woods. Each team’s directions took them to a bucket where they collected a gold ball, then they proceeded from there to the next bucket. If you messed up you had to return to the previous bucket and try again. Ben and his partner, Benjamin, who both have the rank of Tenderfoot, completed the course in a little over an hour and were the first team to return to camp. The team I was attached to, which had two more experienced Scouts, was lost in the woods for over three hours.

We had a great time, but I think I picked up a bunch of chiggers while tromping through the woods. I’ll stop on that note and see if Vicki has any clear fingernail polish I can use to smother these things and get some relief.

Joe

Fall, Glorious Fall!

This has to be one on my favorite times of the year. The weather is cool and the days are beautiful. It was perfect Saturday night for a meal at the picnic table and s’mores around the fire pit. If you look really closely you can see the barest hint of color in the trees.

MUM’S THE WORD. The Beta Club has been selling mums as a fund raiser for an upcoming trip to New York City. Jenna (and Vicki) got busy and sold 53 mums, not counting the 6 that we bought. They spent Thursday and Friday evening delivering flowers all over this end of creation. All their hard work sure saves us on her trip expenses.

Vicki and Jenna have also been busy making pear preserves to sell for another fundraiser. Jenna hopes to visit the orphanage in Haiti that our church is supporting and these monies will go toward that trip. They are finding it takes a lot of work to make preserves.

Speaking of fundraisers, Saturday afternoon found the boys and I selling popcorn in front of a grocery store once again. This time we were at Al’s in White House. We didn’t sell nearly as much popcorn but got a lot of donations.

WATER WORKS. Thursday afternoon I came home with a cutoff valve from the hardware store to replace one below the bathroom sink that is leaking. When I went outside to cut the water off at the meter so I could go to work the valve at the meter broke leaving our water almost off. Since this valve is on the utility’s side of the meter it was their responsibility to fix it.

The next morning I was eating breakfast when Steve Freeland called. He had passed by on his way to work and noticed a small geyser in our front yard. I went out to check it out and sure enough we had a fountain of water about a foot tall bubbling up from the ground. This too was on the utility’s side of the meter so they had to come back out. They wound up replacing the segment of the water line connecting our meter to the water main. All I have to do is reseed the area where they worked.

I did get a kick out of Maggie when we went out the check out the water. She hadn’t seen anything like it before and kept running around the leak barking at it.

ADDITIONS TO THE SHOP. I have been really bummed that I now have the shop I have dreamed of having for years and no time to get out there and work. This has changed in the last couple of weeks and I have thoroughly enjoyed it. What is an extra blessing is that I helped someone at church clean out an industrial building they want to sell and have gotten two large counters and a work bench for my shop. These are a welcome change from the wobbly old kitchen table and sawhorses that I have been using. The building is starting to feel like a place where I can actually get something accomplished.

Joe

Crisp Mornings

It’s that time of year when the mornings feel crisp, the grass looks thin and tired, and if the wind is right you catch the smell of a tobacco barn in the air.

RA CAMPOUT. The boys and I went to the annual RA Campout at Coldstream Camp last weekend. We had a lot of fun together. They boys tried their hand at fishing. We haven’t a clue what we’re doing because they didn’t get a nibble and everyone around us was catching them left and right. Vicki and Jenna had a girls night out and went out to eat at the Brickyard Cafe in Franklin.

WALNUTS. I’ve mentioned in previous years how the boys love to play with the walnuts in Kenny and Lori’s driveway as they wait for the bus. This has been a favorite activity of Nate’s again this year. If we get there early enough Nate will gather a dozen or so and line them up on the road parallel to the white line.

All the cars driving by move over a bit to miss them, but not Alice. When Alice drives up in the bus she makes it a special point to roll over those walnuts with the right tire of the bus. They sound like a string of firecrackers going off and Nate gets so excited he jumps up and down. I pulled up to Alice’s window before she drove off one morning and told her that was probably the easiest thing she could have done to make that boy’s day. She laughed and said, “It makes my day too!”

POPCORN, GET YOUR POPCORN HERE! It’s popcorn selling time for the Boy Scouts. Yesterday the boys and I went to Kroger in Springfield to sell popcorn and I was very proud of how they engaged all the people. This is easier for Nate who is more outgoing than Ben, but you couldn’t tell that yesterday.

We did really well, selling all but five bags of our premium popcorn. They offered to bring us more but after three hours of being baked in the sun and we noticed the store was less busy we decided to pack up and go home.

SHAKESPEARE IN THE PARK. Friday night we headed over to Centennial Park to catch the Nashville Shakespeare Festival’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Vicki and I made this outing a date night to see Much Ado About Nothing last year, but since Jenna was miffed that she didn’t get to see the play we decided to make it a family outing this year.

We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect evening to enjoy an outdoor play. Like last year’s production all the costumes, set, and props are modern while the dialog in the original form. This makes it a little hard to follow the plot but we all want to go back next year.

THAT DOG, SHE’S A NUT! Maggie is such a fun part of the family. She is so excited when we open the door in the morning she is beside herself wiggling and dancing. Snoopy at suppertime has nothing on Maggie’s dancing. She loves to ride in the truck with me and I take her when I go over to Mom’s to mow. She also likes to be with me when I am in the shop and has laid claim to the old recliner out there (Vicki won’t sit in it now).

I got a good laugh at Maggie the other day. I came out that morning to feed Maggie and then went out to the shop to get a shopping list for the hardware store. I had left the door open to the shop so I heard Maggie running across the yard to see what I was up to. As I turned to look I saw this black streak coming toward the door. Then she tripped over the threshold, fell on her side, and went sliding across the floor. She wasn’t hurt, but no matter how much she twisted and wriggled she couldn’t get her feet under her. She slid 20 feet before she got to me and I think she would have gone another 10 feet and crashed into the back wall if I hadn’t put my foot out to stop her.

Speaking of excitement, Maggie had a happy reunion the other day. Maggie and her sister were strays that showed up at my cousin Amy’s house. The other day Amy’s daughter, Bonnie, dropped by. Maggie hadn’t forgotten Bonnie was beside herself with joy.

My cousins, Greg and Kathy, have Maggie’s sister now. She’s named Lucy. We need to drop by and let the dogs visit one day. I’m betting both dogs will lose all bladder control.

Joe

Ten Years of the Swann Family News

Today marks the tenth anniversary of the Swann Family News. A whole lot of life has happened in that time. The software I use for this project tells me I have written over 340,000 words recording the bits and pieces that I share here.

I remember how I came up with the idea of doing this. I had begun a form of journaling back in 1992 in the form of letters to my dad. My inspiration came from the letters Hawkeye Pierce would write to his dad on M*A*S*H. That lasted about nine months and then life with a new girlfriend (that would be Vicki) got busy and I put my pen down. My letters resumed in 1996, but with less frequency. By mid 1999 I quit writing Dad.

Overlapping my letters to Dad a bit was a daily journal I started keeping in September 1998. I kept this up until the spring of 2002 when once again I got to the point that I just couldn’t sit down and write up my thoughts each night. As I recall I was having to write up several days at a time when I got the chance. I tried to pick this back up the following spring in the form of recording an audio journal but that just didn’t work for me.

All this was on my mind ten years ago today when I was mowing Aunt Mar’s yard. I can remember exactly where I was in the yard (I was finishing up the area we call the strawberry patch) when the idea of this format crystalized in my mind. The accountability of sending this out to family and friends has been the motivation I needed to keep this up for ten years while the promise to myself that it is okay not to have to publish this on a regular schedule has kept me from giving it up.

I remember wondering as I was riding the mower that day how long this would last. I also wondered then what life would be like in ten years. I don’t think I would have been surprised by much of what our lives look like today from back then, though I never would have guessed that Pauline wouldn’t still be living across the field or that Ben would have lost one of his best friends to a brain tumor. I think what’s been the most pleasant surprise over the last ten years is simply watching my kids grow and develop into the people they are today. That’s something Vicki and I have enjoyed watching together and is a regular part of my expression of gratitude when I pray.

So, I wonder what things will look like for us on Wednesday, September 6, 2023? Vicki and I should be empty-nesters. How many of the kids will still be in college by then? Will any of them be married? Where will we all be working? Only time will tell on those questions.

Early on I was surprised with each milestone of this newsletter that I had kept it up for that long. I am not so surprised now, though I do wonder if this project will have run it’s course by the time all the kids are out of the house. We are certainly busy, but with more routine activities than when the kids were younger. I think there’s more to it than the schedule. Back then it was so easy to record our family activities because I was writing some from the perspective of a parent with small children. Now that the kids are older that perspective has changed. Vicki and I are just as much a part of their lives now as we were then but we relate to them differently and I am finding that this makes me write less often.

For now the Swann Family News is alive and well. I’ll write more frequently during some times of the year and less in others and that’s okay. I’m going to keep it up as long as it feels right. I’m just looking forward to the time when one of my grandchildren will crawl into my lap and ask me what their mom or dad was like when they were kids and I’ll reach up on the shelf and pull down a book (or maybe I’ll pull it up on a tablet) and catch them up on the Swann Family News.

Joe

Summer Heat Returns

The normal summer heat and humidity has reasserted itself in the last two weeks. Some days I walk outside and the humidity takes my breath away. There’s a of tobacco being cut right now. I usually get behind a couple of loads going to the barn on my way to work and the smell of tobacco barns being fired hangs thick in the air. The heat may be back, but only for a short time now.

CANOEING THE BUFFALO. Last weekend Ben went with the Scouts on a weekend canoe trip down the Buffalo River. They started at the Grimes Canoe Base where they spent Friday night. Saturday they floated the majority of their trip before stopping for the night to camp out again. They finished the rest of their trip on Sunday and were picked up and taken back to their vehicles so they could head home.

This trip was more of a backpacking trip, even though they didn’t do any hiking, because each Scout had to carry his own gear. Normally all the troop tents, stoves, etc. are kept in a trailer and Ben only has to pack a few things. Since they couldn’t bring the trailer along that increased his packing list and we had to go to Bass Pro Shop the previous weekend to get some gear he didn’t have.

Ben came back saying they had a great time. I know they stopped and swam a lot. They got credit for a 25 mile trip though they think it was more like 21 miles. I really wanted to go but I had already promised to do the scores at the Fairest of the Fair so I had to stay home.

FUND RAISERS. Whatever students are selling I think we have it between our three kids. We’ve got smart cards. We’ve got popcorn. We’ve got mums. The one thing we don’t have any more of is barbecue. The Boy Scouts had their third annual barbecue sale this weekend. Ben and I got up at 3:00 Saturday morning to go and help with the cooking. By 10:00 the shoulders were getting done and the rest of the guys were showing up to chop and package the meat. I have no idea how much the 36 shoulders we cooked made but Ben sold 46 pounds (well, actually Ben’s mom and dad did the selling).

SHE’S A GO GETTER. I have to admire my daughter. That girl knows what she wants and goes after it. I mentioned the classes she is taking this fall when I last wrote. Advanced Biology alone is demanding enough and it’s the textbook I see the most. She certainly does a lot of studying.

Jenna also got the opportunity to do some babysitting the other night. Her friends, Makenzie and Katie, invited her to go to the fair with them that night which made this a hard decision at first. It became a no brainer when Vicki said, “You can either go to the fair and spend money or take this job and make money.”

I think Jenna may have her sights set on going on a mission trip to Haiti next summer if the opportunity arises and that just may happen. Three folks from our church have recently returned from trips to Haiti and we have begun sponsoring an orphanage in the city of Jérémie which is located near the end of the southern peninsula of that country and is very isolated. If she keeps having opportunities to babysit she’ll be able to make a major contribution to her expenses.

MAGGIE, THE WATCHDOG. Maggie has made herself quite at home here. She is well behaved except that she is so happy to see us when we come home she tries to hop into the vehicle with us. She is quite fast.

The other day Vicki texted me to say that Maggie was really barking. When she went to the window to check it out there were about 15 turkeys in the yard. They left before she could grab the camera. I was home a few days later when I heard Maggie barking some. It wasn’t constant so I didn’t go to check it out for about an hour. When I finally did I discovered that she was protecting me from a plastic bag that had blown into the yard. The breeze was blowing just enough to make it look like it was breathing which would get Maggie stirred up. She just wasn’t brave enough to go investigate the strange, white creature.

A FUN OUTING. We decided to go do something fun yesterday afternoon so after lunch we all piled in the van and headed to the Frist Center for the Visual Arts in Nashville. They’ve had an exhibit on display there since mid-June called Sensuous Steel: Art Deco Automobiles which features about 20 rare, cool looking cars (and a couple of motorcycles) from the 1920s and 1930s. The cars made you think that you were looking at a collection of manufacturer’s concept cars except that they all had limited production runs. One car I read about was almost completely handcrafted and as a result all of the cars in that line were similar but not identical. When we left the Frist we headed to the movie theater where Vicki and I watched The Butler while the kids watched Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters.

We stayed around the house for Labor Day since we went out yesterday, but we will grill hamburgers and take our meal over to share with Mom this evening.

Joe

The Feeling of Fall

We have one full week of school behind us now and we are back into the routine of things. Awana and scouting activities have resumed and last night Jenna went to the football jamboree with her friends. Add to that the unusually cool, wet weather and summer break feels like it was ages ago.

This has been an abnormally wet year. Usually by this time of the year the grass is so thin and dry I can mow the ditches in from of the house no time. This year the grass is still thick like it is in the spring and it takes the weed eater a long time to hack through it.

Steve Freeland has had a though time with his tobacco. He raises air cured tobacco varieties so he doesn't have to fire it while school is in session. (Steve is an assistant principal.) This year the moisture content is so high his tobacco is threatening to rot in the barn and he's had to fire it to dry it out. I think Steve also commented that this was the first time he has ever set tobacco out after school dismissed for the summer and got to cut it before school was back in session at the end of summer. This year's rain has affected the growing season that much.

Jenna's garden has been bountiful. We simply can't keep up with the tomatoes. Every time Jenna goes out to pick them she brings in 80-100. She and Vicki have canned several jars and plan to do more today. They made a batch of salsa one day and Vicki made the mistake of cutting up the jalapeño peppers bare handed.

Speaking of school, Nate began his last year at the elementary school. When we went to open house we remarked how strange it would be to have all three kids in the same school again next year. Nate's teacher, Ms. Kelly, seems really nice.

Ben's schedule is similar to what he had last year, though I think he somehow has more time in PE which he enjoys. He is eligible to play on the basketball team this year and I think he plans to try out.

Jenna is a sophomore now. It was only ten short years ago we were enrolling her kindergarten! This fall she is taking Advanced Biology I, Art I, World History, and Spanish I.

Jenna's driving is coming along. She drove in the interstate for the first time on my birthday and did a really good job. I don't think it was as scary as she feared it would be.

I guess my birthday is the one thing that has been a bit out of the routine. I enjoyed a day off work. After the kids went to school Vicki and I went to town for a breakfast date and to run errands. I spent the afternoon mowing which is always therapeutic for me. That evening we all (Mom included) went out to eat before Ben had Boy Scouts.

One thing that was fun today was that Kenny and Lori invited us over for lunch. Caleb Jernigan and his new bride, Binayah, were in for the weekend on their way back home to Pennsylvania from their honeymoon (they were married two weeks ago). We enjoyed good food, a pleasant visit, and the boys enjoyed a dip in the pool.

Joe

Thursday's Baby is Thirteen!

August is here and school is right around the corner. We’ve been enjoying cool weather for this time of year. Here’s the news from the last of our summer break.

ANOTHER TEENAGER ON OUR HANDS! Yesterday was Ben’s 13th birthday. What a milestone!

Ben didn’t care too much about a big birthday celebration. All he wanted to do was go out to see Despicable Me 2 (which was cute, now I need to see the first one). Mom had taken all of us out to eat at the Catfish House for his birthday Friday night and beyond that he only wanted his favorite dessert. The problem was he couldn’t decide which dessert he wanted so Vicki made peach cobbler for him and Jenna made a chocolate cake. He was very pleased.

MAGGIE. We have a new dog! Last weekend my cousin Amy, who live in Uncle Paul’s old house on the adjoining farm, texted to say that she had two dogs that were dropped off on her and asked if we would be interested. Now we have a cute, mostly black, half-grown mutt that we have named Maggie. She has been well behaved and seems to be an intelligent dog. So, for now, we have a dog.

Speaking of pets, we haven’t seen our cat, Tagalong, in several weeks.

FLEA MARKET. Last Sunday we decided to do a little adventuring in Nashville. We drove down to the Farmer’s Market where we browsed around for a bit and then ate lunch. After that we drove over to the fairgrounds where the monthly flea market was going on. Our big purchase there was a double papasan for the boys room as they have been asking for a couch or something up there for several weeks now. Now they have a really comfy looking video gaming area set up in a corner of their room.

What was really funny was the sight of three kids squeezed into the back of the van looking out from under the upside down seat of the papasan.

THE STORY OF LITTLE CHICKEN. Mom has been going through drawers of pictures and papers lately and handed me a paper with a story typed on it the other day. It is such a sweet story I thought I would share it here.

This story was no surprise to me, but the paper is an unexpected treasure. The paper appears to be the rough draft of a letter Aunt Mar wrote. Some of the words are X’ed out with the typewriter and then there are additional edits in her handwriting. I am guessing the intended recipients were my cousins Sarah, Ginny, and Emily and that Aunt Mar wrote up this story to tell them about their great grandmother, my maternal grandmother, Nellie Hancock Denning. Nellie was Aunt Mar’s oldest sister. There was over ten years difference in their ages.

Here’s the story Aunt Mar wrote:

Would you like to hear another story that happened many, many years ago when I was somewhere about your ages? In this story I will introduce you to your great grandmother and the lovely person she was. She had so many good qualities. Besides being pretty she was a caring and fun loving person and a good Christian.

Nellie, your great grandmother and my oldest sister, couldn't stand to see anyone hurt. That included animals, birds, and chickens. This is where my story begins, with a pet chicken.

This chicken, for some reason I really don't recall why, lost all of its feathers and it had to walk around the barnyard without her feathers like the rest of the chickens did. Now this was quite embarrassing to this little chicken and all the comfort she ever got was not from her chicken friends but from your great grandmother. She would go out into the yard and pick the little chicken up and pet it and a lot of times bring special feed for her because of the great embarrassment. This little chicken couldn't compete with the other feathered chickens among the feeder. They would root her away, pecking her on her bare back and head. This really hurt and made little chicken not want to go near the feeder so she depended on your great grandmother to bring her special food. I imagine this made the other chickens a little jealous so they ganged up against her and pecked little chicken more and more.

Your great grandmother just couldn't stand this type of cruelty so she asked her mother, your great, great grandmother, for some material and she began to make a dress for little chicken. When it was finished she picked up little chicken and sewed the dress on her. You should have seen little chicken! She jumped down and strutted around the barnyard showing off her new type of feathers that would protect her from the pecks and the hot, blistering sun that had hurt so badly. Now she was accepted among the other chickens and she was able to eat at the feeder with them. They were quite proud to be seen with little chicken and her pretty, new, fashionable feathers. Eventually little chicken's real feathers began to grow and in no time at all your great grandmother cut off the little dress since she didn't need to wear it any more.

Little chicken never forgot your great grandmother and whenever she came out in the yard little chicken would come running to her and, in her little chicken chirps, would try to thank her for all the love she had when she had no feathers.

Joe

VBS and Other Things

Summers are fun. I wouldn’t trade them for anything. What I miss, though, is the lack of a normal routine. That will change soon enough.

There’s not a lot of news to share from the past two weeks, but here’s what I know.

VBS AND A MUCH NEEDED VACATION. As you know from when I wrote last we were ready to get Vacation Bible School underway. This year’s theme was Kingdom Rock so we were all about castles and knights and things. We averaged over 180 (that’s kids and workers).

I’m going to brag on my wife here. Our VBS went off really well. She had everything very organized and everyone I saw looked like they were enjoying themselves. After two weeks of seeing her throw all of her energy into the preparations I was glad to see her efforts pay off in such a big way.

Once VBS was done and all the decorations were taken down Vicki was ready for some time off. She and the kids piled into the van last Sunday after church and headed out to the Jones house for some family time. I don’t think they went anywhere except the tennis courts while they were there. They got back home today.

THE HOME FRONT. I didn’t get to make the trip to Georgia due to my work schedule so I enjoyed a quiet house while everyone was gone. Mom and I did go out to eat three different evenings.

Mom is doing well. She’s even gotten back behind the wheel to go to church, get her hair fixed, and run some errands in town.

BOUNTIFUL HARVEST. Jenna’s garden is coming in. I told her to strip it of anything that was remotely ripe when they left for Georgia and they took two buckets of veggies with them. When they got back today we picked 110 ears sweet corn and froze most of it. And there’s still corn left to ripen! I think we’ll have more than our freezer can hold.

STAR DUSTER NEWS. I received some sad news from Bob Stangland a couple of days ago. Mr. Stangland served on the same crew with Dad in World War II. He wrote to tell me that their pilot, Bill Lind, passed away this week. Mr. Stangland went on to say he called Jim Zorns, the flight engineer, to tell him of Mr. Lind’s passing only to learn that Mr. Zorns passed away back in March. As far as we know only two on the eleven man crew are still living, the other being Achilles Stathas.

I’ve had the opportunity to meet Mr. Lind, Mr. Stangland, and Mr. Stathas. All three are fine men. If the rest of the crew was like them Dad served with some wonderful people.

Joe

Is July Really Half Gone?

I think it hit me the other day that it truly is July when I saw the farmer down the road oiling his tobacco. Interestingly, I still move through each year in terms of what we did on the farm when I was growing up. I guess I’ll always do that.

For those of you who do not know, sucker oil is a chemical applied to tobacco to prevent it from suckering. The blooms are usually broken or snapped off a month or so before it is cut to make the leaves grow larger. The plant responds by suckering so that it can flower and reproduce. A tobacco farmer does not want this to happen so his next goal is to get rid of the suckers while the tobacco ripens. Before there was sucker oil this had to be done to every plant in the field by hand once a week, a backbreaking job.

GEARING UP FOR VBS. Vacation Bible School starts tomorrow at our church. It started over two weeks ago for my family, Vicki in particular. My wife has been busy tending to all the details. We’ve had several volunteers to help us decorate and the church looks great. We’re doing Kingdom Rock so we’re all about castles this year. Fortunately, a church in White House did the same VBS curriculum last month and is letting us use their decorations. Even with all the help Vicki has put in a lot of hours and Jenna has been her right hand girl. There’s still a lot to be done before all the kids show up tomorrow night, but Vicki did say she was in better shape this year than she ever has been.

CHILLY FOURTH OF JULY. This is the first time I ever remember going home and trading my shorts for long pants on the Forth of July. At 68° we broke a record of having the lowest high temperature for the day, and all this while the record breaking hot weather was contributing to wild fires out west.

It also rained almost all day on the Forth (I think we got 4.7 inches) which caused us to move the Kilgore Remembrance ceremony to the pavilion at the park. That’s where the cool, moist wind was blowing and after being acclimated to much hotter temperatures from camp I was wishing I hadn’t worn my shorts. That afternoon we decided to beat the rain and go see Monsters University. We also skipped all the soggy fireworks shows that night.

RECONNECTING. Last weekend I decided to make a quick trip up to Ohio, the Akron area to be more specific. I went up to reconnect with some second cousins, Bryan and Grant Luton. I got acquainted with them last year when they came down for separate visits. Bryan, Mem, and their children were here for the Threshermen’s Show last year and Grant followed a few months later last fall. Grant and I had maintained contact since then and after repeated invitations to come visit I decided to take off whether the rest of my family could come or not.

It was a pleasant trip if a little quick. Friday and Sunday were pretty much devoted to driving. I stayed with Grant and his wife, Robin. What’s interesting is that Grant is the congregational leader for a Messianic Jewish Fellowship so Friday evening we welcomed the Sabbath and enjoyed a meal with five others from their fellowship. I enjoyed worshiping with them Saturday morning, though it threw me off for the rest of the week since I am used to doing that on Sunday. Saturday evening we were invited to Bryan and Mem’s for supper where I had a wonderful introduction to Thai food.

Quick as the trip was I did get to take in a few sites. Impressive for me was Hartville Hardware, the world’s largest hardware store. I also saw the hanger where the Goodyear blimps are assembled and the cottage where President McKinley and his family would vacation.

Joe

Summer Camp

These last two weeks have seen us doing all sorts of summer camp activities. Here's a quick rundown, but before I get started with that...

RIP 36. Our beloved goldfish, 36, has passed on. He died sometime during the wee hours of yesterday morning. I was the one who fed 36 the most and he would always come to the front of the tank and wiggle excitedly whenever he saw me come into the kitchen. We sent 36 to his watery grave after Ben got home from camp.

We got 36 almost three years ago when Ben won him at the county fair. He was so named because he became ours when Ben tossed the 36th and final ping pong ball we had purchased and it landed smack dab in his little fishbowl. He grew to be almost six inches long in his time with us.

We are actually without any pets now. We have not seen our cat, Tagalong, since we got home from Georgia earlier this month.

CENTRIKID. Vicki and the boys returned with 21 others from church to CentriKid camp at Campbellsville University last week. They left on Monday, June 17, and got home that Friday. Vicki said everything from the team leading the camp to the curriculum and worship experience was great. I know the boys enjoyed it. Nate, our more vocal son, told us all about it, but when Ben, who is quieter, said that he was sad to be aging out after this year and would not be able to return you know they had a great time.

Not to shortchange the purpose of CentriKid, the details we hear the most about are the track times, those special interest classes the kids have in the afternoons. This year they offered three track times in the schedule (up from two last year). Ben and Nate both had Outdoor Games (though not together) and said that was a lot of fun. Ben was also scheduled for Wet & Wild and Basketball. Nate took Kitchen Chaos and Archery.

The kids gave a report on their trip in church today and it looked like everyone not only had a great time but grew spiritually as well.

WHERE DID THE WEEK GO? Jenna and I were left at home while Vicki and the boys were away and that's the question we were asking ourselves when they got back.

I had to work so it was a normal routine for me. Jenna has begun volunteering with Cindy Owen's ministry for Exceptional Adults and that kept her occupied Monday and Wednesday of that week. I know they went to the YMCA for swimming both days and that there was a cooking class Monday evening because Jenna had eaten supper when I picked her up. She also spent part of Tuesday with Mom and worked in her garden another day. We went out to Cracker Barrel for supper with Mom on one of those evenings.

I'll say one thing about Jenna's garden. She keeps it clean. One tool we haven't convinced her to use is the hoe. She pulls all the weeds by hand. We ate some squash from her garden at supper yesterday.

WEEKEND TURNAROUND. Last weekend was all about getting the laundry done and getting people back out the door. By Sunday after lunch the boys and I were on our way to Boxwell Reservation and Jenna was packing to leave for Mission Fuge with the youth group. That left Vicki home alone for the first time since we have been married. When we got back she, too, was wondering where the time went.

SUMMER CAMP. This is Ben's second year at Boy Scout Summer Camp. This year he took classes for the Basketry, Sculpture, and Soil & Water Conservation merit badges in the mornings. His afternoons are filled with a Green Bar class to put him on his way to earning his Second Class Scout rank.

Nate and I tagged along with the troop through Thursday so he could attend Webelos Resident Camp. Nate tok a Scout Skills course which had sessions in basic first aid, fire safety, map & compass, and knots & lashings. All the Webelos taking this course were divided into three patrols and they had a Scout Skills competition that last day. Nate’s patrol finished first. It was really neat to see Nate jump in and do things with his new found skills.

Nate’s experience at camp was different from what the vast majority of Webelos have because we camped out with Ben’s troop. He did just about everything the Boy Scouts did, even going to a few merit badge classes when we weren’t over at Cub World for the Scout Skills classes. This was something of a tradeoff as he missed the evening activities at Cub World. The nice thing is that the boys in the troop really accepted him and treated him well so he has already made friends for when he crosses over to Boy Scouts.

Vicki came to Boxwell for supper Thursday evening which really pleased Ben, though he didn’t show it when she first walked up. By the time we got to the dining hall he had found his way to the seat next to her and began share his week with her. He was angling to go home with us but we told him he needed to stay the other two days and finish what he started. As he parted with his mom he told her he missed her. Big stuff from such a quiet and reserved boy.

MISSION FUGE. While the boys and I were at camp Jenna went to Charleston, South Carolina, for Mission Fuge with 96 others from our church and three other churches. Jenna said she enjoyed the worship services the most and also liked the track time because she got to play with young kids every day. The only bad parts of the trip were the mechanical problems their bus had. Their bus had a flat tire one the way to Charleston and they had to wait 90 minutes for a new bus to pick them up and their air conditioning played out shortly after leaving Charleston to come home. She said the temperature inside the bus reached 95° in the hottest part of the day.

TRASH & TREASURES. Cross Plains held its annual community-wide yard sale this weekend. The weather was very pleasant being some 20° cooler than the record breaking temperatures we experienced last year. Ben and Nate actually came out ahead of the game having sold a couple of their old video game systems and games to a man who had set up a booth there.

Sadly this wraps up the first half of the kids’ summer break. Vacation Bible School starts in two weeks and school is right around the corner after that.

Joe

Happy Father's Day!

We have enjoyed some pleasant weather although the summer heat is trying to break through. Overall it has been very enjoyable to be outside and I envy the farmers I see plowing tobacco or cutting hay.

SCOPE, BUT NO STINT. I guess my report on Mom’s heart procedure a week ago Friday is a little overdue, however, it was pretty low risk. She was back home that night and went to church on Sunday. They went prepared to place a stint but wound up just looking around and making the decision to treat with medicine. Of three arteries around her heart they checked one was completely blocked but the blockage must have happened slowly enough that her body had time to respond by growing a new artery and essentially doing it’s own bypass. The other two arteries were 60-70% blocked but the blockages were “speed bumped” in such that using a stint was not possible. So, we’re just going to let the medicine do its job and give her mouth the summer to continue healing.

NEW SMART PHONE. My wife has now caught up with the modern era. She’s bought an iPhone and she loves it! She found herself having to communicate through text messages more and more and the phone she had was becoming inadequate for the job. The inconvenience finally outweighed the cost for her and we went to the store and moved her to an iPhone. The feature she loves most is dictating her text messages. I’m giving her a year to become a geek like the rest of us.

VOLLEYBALL. Vicki has been playing on the church volleyball team every Monday night for the last couple of months and she has thoroughly enjoyed it. They’ve played in a small league at the YMCA in Springfield. Their last game was Monday night and they ended the season with a tournament, which they won!

When Vicki told me about winning the championship she went on the say, “Who cares if there were only three teams in the league.” One of the teams was from NorthCrest Medical Center and the other was fielded with girls who all have scholarships to play college volleyball.

GLASSES. Vicki took Nate to the eye doctor the other day. We had suspected his vision was bad and this confirmed it. His glasses came in Wednesday and he now see life in much sharper focus. Those of us who have poor vision know exactly what he’s talking about, and I smile to myself when he talks about being able to see the leaves on the trees or read signs at a distance.

CAMP STORYBOOK. Jenna work in Camp Storybook at her school all last week. This was put on by the Beta Club as a fund raiser for an upcoming trip to New York City. The camp ran in the mornings and Jenna helped out in the crafts. She said the who thing was similar to a Vacation Bible School but without teaching Bible stories. The trip to New York is scheduled for January. Vicki and Jenna have both signed up to go.

CATCHING UP. It used to be that our children, spaced roughly 2½ years apart, were perfectly stair stepped in height. This is no longer the case as Ben is about to overtake Jenna. He is now 5’8” and only lacks ¾” catching up, though it’s hard to see that when they’re standing side by side.

Nate is 5’2” which is a respectable height for a 10 year old. He wishes he were taller but we remind him that he’s still 30 months younger than Ben and will catch up in due time. Sometimes it’s hard being the youngest.

CELEBRATING DAD’S DAY. I’ve had a nice Father’s Day weekend. We went out to see Man of Steel Friday afternoon. It was a good movie, but intense. We stopped for frozen yogurt on the way home. Saturday evening we grilled steaks and took them over to Mom’s for supper. This evening we returned to Mom’s with chicken lasagna.

Joe

Let the Summer Begin!

School is out for the summer and all the extracurricular activities that run during the school year have finally wound down only to be replaced with summer madness.

DIGGING IN THE DIRT. I’m guessing Jenna is the only high school girl within at least a hundred miles of here who heads to her very own garden the day her summer vacation begins and works for five hours. That’s exactly what she did when she finished her last final and Vicki picked her up from school two weeks ago today.

The garden is doing really well. If it doesn’t produce it won’t be due to neglect. That girl is out there weeding and watering most every day.

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND. What made Memorial Day weekend so fun was that the Cotters came up for a quick visit. They arrived Friday evening and left Monday morning. We had the most perfect weather while they were here. There is absolutely no way we could have asked for better.

On Saturday we went to White House to help our scout pack and troop place flags on veterans’ graves in the two cemeteries there. That done I took Alex in my truck and let him get some driving practice on narrow, curvy, country roads since he doesn’t have those where he lives. He sure got a driving workout. We were on one curvy backroad when he met a cement mixer on a narrow bridge. I also made him drive large figure eights around the church parking lot ... in reverse ... with mirrors only. We visited all that afternoon and went to the Catfish House in Springfield for supper.

Sunday morning found us at church. We had planned a late lunch afterwards because the Dees joined us from Ashland City. We set up picnic tables in Mom’s backyard and all enjoyed the breeze while we ate and talked. I had brought over one of our model rockets to shoot off. I had three engines for it, but unfortunately the wind carried it into the trees and we lost it the first time we launched it. When the Dees left and we had put everything away we headed to the Franklin Drive-in to take in the movie Epic (which is entertaining but doesn’t live up to its name in my opinion). This was the first the Cotter boys had ever seen a drive-in movie.

GEORGIA FUN. Last Thursday Vicki and the kids headed south to visit the Jones family. I have a project at work that will keep me in the office most of the summer, but I followed them down the next day. We enjoyed the usual family time together playing games, playing tennis, swimming, and eating. I feel like I’m really glossing over the visit given how I’ve summarized it, but what is invaluable to me, all of us really, is the time to just stop, relax, and enjoy each other. The Jones house is a place of restoration for us and there’s really no way to put that into words.

END OF THE SCOUTING YEAR. Our scout troop had their final court of honor last night. Ben had achieved his Tenderfoot rank and beginning July 1 he will serve as the assistant patrol leader for his patrol. The boys and I will go to summer camp toward the end of the month, but for now we have Monday and Tuesday evenings free.

UPDATE ON ANNIE FANNIE. That is my cousin Judy’s nickname for my mom which makes me chuckle every time I see it.

I took Mom to the doctor for a checkup on her mouth on Friday. He said things are healing very nicely and that she should be ready to be fitted for a partial by August. We are very pleased to hear that. Mom goes in this Friday for a heart catheter and a stint if needed. She will only stay overnight if they do put in the stint. Low risk as this is we do appreciate your ongoing prayers.

Joe

Nearing the End of School

The fireflies have hatched … as have their mosquito cousins. Boy, are they vicious! If I could just get the rain to come on my schedule I could keep the grass cut.

BOOTING THE BOOT. Mom has dealt with some pain over the last week, but she is better. She even went to church this morning! One bit of good news is that the orthopedic surgeon has given her clearance to take off the boot. That makes getting around for her so much easier.

She also got good reports back from all the tests of tissue that was removed in surgery. The doctor feels like he got everything so no additional treatments are necessary. Now we need to just wait and see what healing brings.

ONE MORE WEEK OF CLASSES! All three kids are excited that the end of school is near. Just one more week of classes and they'll be able to put their books away for a couple of months.

The last few weeks of school brings many field trips. Nate has gotten to go off campus for lunch several times as a reward for his performance in several areas (e.g. how many books he's read). Jenna's English class went to see The Great Gatsby the other day. Friday Ben went on the annual Jr. Beta trip to Holiday World. Ben had a good time but I felt a little sorry for him. At the theme park the kids were grouped and assigned to a chaperone. Ben really wanted to ride a lot of rides but the majority of kids in his group preferred to spend their extra money on games in hopes of winning a stuffed animal or some other prize. He did get on several rides but not as many some of his buddies who were in other groups.

FARMER JEN. Jenna is serious about her garden. She planted it last week (I helped only a little). She's put out sweet corn, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, sweet potatoes, green beans, cucumber, squash, cantaloupe, and watermelon. Ben wants carrots so that may go in this week. Now it's a matter of keeping the weeds and bugs under control and in a few months we should be seeing some of the fruits of her labor.

What's so funny is that Jenna is now noticing crops as we're driving places. She commented on how good one corn field looked just today. She's becoming a regular farmer.

GEOCACHING. If you have never heard of this it is a treasure hunting game played by thousands around the world. There are over two million caches scattered on every continent. With that many there may be one near you. We have one right next door.

To play the game all you need it a GPS (or a smart phone capable of locating itself) and access to a geocaching website to find where caches are located. Then you go hunting. The caches themselves range in size from a weatherproof box (e.g. an ammunition can or a food storage box) to the really small container (e.g. a pill bottle or a 35 mm film can). All caches have a log that you sign. Some have trinkets you can take as long as you put one of equal or greater value back.

I recently got an upgrade to an iPhone so the boys and I decided to try our hand at the game last weekend. We've found five within a few miles of the house. We took Mom out last Sunday for one of our forays. We were at the grocery store in Cross Plains looking for one cache. The boys were looking all over the parking lot with my phone when I looked around and spotted what appeared to be the most logical place to hide a cache. I got out, put my hands right on the little film can, and headed back to the van. The boys couldn't believe I found it without electronic aid. Nate has had so much fun he said he wants to spend one whole day this summer geocaching. I told him I'd be willing if he'd chip in on the gas.

Joe

Post-Op Report

I want to begin by thanking everyone who has prayed for Mom. Many of you called, texted, or sent an email which was very appreciated even if all I could say at the time was “thank you.” We have been stretched thin between caring for Mom at Vanderbilt and the kids here at home and I am only now having the time to sit down and write this up.

Mom’s surgery went well. When it was over the surgeon came out and told us there were no surprises and that everything looked like he had expected from the biopsy. While they were in surgery they had the tissue around the margins tested and that all came back clear. The only test we do not have results on yet is the bone pathology (those come back in a week). Overall he was really pleased and doesn’t feel that any additional treatment is necessary.

The procedure did take nine of Mom’s upper teeth starting with the four front teeth and stretching around to include all of the molars on the right side. Early on we were told there would not be enough bone left to support dental reconstruction or any type of denture, but after the surgery he sounded like that could still be a possibility. We’ll just have to wait until she heals to know for sure.

The one speed bump in all this is that during surgery Mom’s blood pressure dropped and heart enzymes spiked. They were on top of it so she was not in any danger, however, this brought a cardiologist into the picture and it sounds like a heart catheter is in her future in a couple of weeks.

For now all Mom has to do is sit back, drink smoothies, and heal. Judy has her fixed up with what looks like a year’s supply of soda straws so I’m thinking I just need to stop by the store and get her some drink umbrellas.

Joe

On the Eve of Surgery

Last week was beautiful, then a front moved in late Friday afternoon and changed the whole thing.

SURGERY TOMORROW. Mom is not looking forward to what has to be done tomorrow, but at the same time she is ready to have the sore spots in her mouth taken care of. She has told us the places feel like they are growing and that they are really sensitive to things like brushing her teeth or eating even mildly spicy food.

I will send out an update after her surgery. We appreciate your prayers.

EARLY BIRTHDAY. Mom’s birthday falls on Mother’s Day this year, but Derek and Amanda invited us over to their house last night to celebrate her birthday a week early. They treated us to a steak dinner and we all had a great time. Mom even played “Happy Birthday” to herself on their piano.

WET CAMPING. As I have already mentioned the weather changed drastically Friday. We went to highs in the 70s to highs in the low 50s with rain. Almost two inches of rain as a matter of fact. It all came in just as Troop 459 was heading out for the spring camporee and it was dreary all weekend long. They still had a good time though.

I didn’t make this campout. Nate and I were planning to go to the Cum and Family campout as Boxwell this weekend with others from his Webelo den but with the rain everyone decided to stay home.

I BRAGGED TOO SOON. A couple of weeks ago I wrote about how Tagalong was taking care of our recently orphaned kittens. I was wondering at the time if I were singing his praises too soon. A day to two later he and all the kittens disappeared. We saw no sign of them for several days until Tagalong returned home…alone.

It’s a good thing Nate took pictures of them for the art fair. His picture won third place at school, but did not place at the county level.

Joe

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Rain moved in some time Friday afternoon and continued through early this morning. The Cross Plains Bluegrass Festival, which was scheduled to be at the new stage at Kilgore Park, had to move indoors at East Robertson High School. Even then most people stayed home. I went out this morning to check on things and dumped five inches of water out of the rain gauge that had collected since Friday. I know there are parts of the country that need rain, but we have water standing everywhere you look.

I'm departing from my normal format again since it has been an uneventful week for us outside of news about Mom's upcoming surgery. The boys took the TCAP test last week. Jenna completed a research paper and is working on other projects coming due at the end of the school year. On a sad note, Miss Cat is a casualty of the highway. Tagalong has assumed the role of protecting and caring for the kittens. The only thing he can't do is nurse them.

Mom's surgery is set for next week. The news we've gotten is not good. Of the six tissue samples taken in the biopsy four were malignant. The surgeon told Mom she will lose over half of her upper teeth and that he will need to dig too deeply for there to be enough bone left to support implants or dentures. Mom also talked to one lady who had the same procedure. She needed to hear about the experience, but it has not been easy news to digest. I have to admire her for doing her best to stay as positive as possible. The road ahead for my mother is neither easy nor pretty. Please keep her in your prayers.

Joe

Riding Shotgun

It seems like the landscape changed from brown to green overnight. All the trees have been pushing out new leaves since I wrote last. Spring is here and nature is waking up from its winter nap.

One thing I have seen this year which is new to me are fields of canola. I've been seeing several fields full of bright yellow flowers but didn't know what it was until I asked Will Ed. He told me this was a risky crop for this area and that some farmers tried it a few years ago only to have a cold November that froze the crop out. I hope the crop does well this year. There are a couple of fields along my route to work which are spectacular.

HEALTH UPDATE. Mom had quite a busy week. She visited the orthopedic surgeon on Tuesday and learned that her ankle is continuing to heal nicely, there are no blood clots to be concerned about, and that she should be able to leave the boot behind by the end of the month.

Mom's biopsy was on Thursday. The surgeon took six tissue samples. We won't hear the results from that until Tuesday or Wednesday, but as far as the procedure itself Mom did really well. She did not have any adverse affects from the anesthesia nor has she experienced any pain in her gums, only soreness. We don't know what lies ahead but at least this hurdle was easily cleared.

LEARNER'S PERMIT. I knew this day was coming. I even wrote about it a few weeks ago. But it was still a bit of a shock to see Vicki riding in the passenger's seat while Jenna was driving in Springfield on Friday.

Jenna's birthday was actually on Thursday and Vicki took her to the driver testing center to get her permit but that turned out to be a disappointment. We knew she had to have a letter from the school saying she is a student in good standing for the license but we did not know this was required for the permit. So, the permit had to wait until Friday. Now we are riding in fear of every mailbox we pass. Actually, she is doing quite well considering her only driving experience has been on the dirt roads back on the farm.

After getting the permit Jenna and Vicki celebrated by having a girl's night out to Opry Mills Mall where Jenna got her ears pierced. Jenna had her ears pierced back on her tenth birthday. This was something she had been looking forward to for a long time but it did not turn out so well. The hole in one earlobe wound up splitting out and she let the piercing in both ears grow back together and has never been interested in having this redone until now.

HIKING. If you aren't familiar with scouting, all troops attempt to have one weekend outing a month. Our troop is no different, though we do make an exception for December. This month's trip was a day hike in Montgomery Bell State Park. Ben saved his money and bought himself a camel pack so he could take in yesterday's seven mile hike.

I think Ben enjoyed this trip. When we were all eating supper I asked him to share at least three things he enjoyed about the trip and he actually answered with more than one sentence. Some of the skills the boys practiced on this hike were wildlife identification (trees, animal tracks, etc.) and navigating with a map and compass.

ANYBODY WANT A KITTEN? Our kittens are growing…and eating. One of the bolder ones is starting to venture off the porch and explore a few feet away. What's really funny is to see Miss Cat, Tagalong, and the four kittens all sleeping in a big ball in the corner of the porch. We've gotten several cute pictures. Nate has even entered one he took in the art fair at school. We'll see how he does with that.

Joe

Health Challenges

I think it is time to discuss some challenges our family is facing with Mom's health. It's not that any of this is a secret to relatives or those of you who live locally, but the time is right to catch the rest of you up.

To begin, Mom's ankle is healing nicely. The orthopedic surgeon has been keeping a close eye on this and has been pleased with her progress, and we are seeing her walking improve each week. For example, we went out to eat at Cracker Barrel last night and Mom used the walker the whole time as she did when we went out on Sunday. She returns for a four week checkup on Tuesday. We’re hoping she can chunk the boot by the end of the month.

As inconvenient as a broken ankle is Mom’s real challenge has been her left knee which had been giving her trouble for some time before she fell. You may recall that Mom had her right knee replaced back in 2005. Unfortunately it was her right ankle that she broke last month forcing the already bad left knee to take more punishment. I think anyone who has had any sort of knee issues knows that it doesn’t matter how strong your leg is, if you’re having problems in that joint it’s just hard to push off or up with that leg. The last time Mom went in for an ankle check she asked the doctor to x-ray her left knee. He confirmed our suspicions when he said, “Yep, it looks just as bad has the right one did before I replaced it.” So, we may be looking at another replacement down the road.

Mom does have another issue of more immediate concern. Back in the fall Mom went to her dentist complaining of a sore in her top gum. To make a long story short, she has now been referred up to a third specialist with a diagnosis of squamous cell carcinoma in her mouth. The two major causes for this type of mouth cancer are regular use of tobacco or alcohol. This really stinks because Mom falls within that really small group of people who have never done either of this things but simply get the cancer due to plain bad luck as far as we know now. (When the doctor asked to verify with Mom that she had never consumed alcohol I wanted to break in and say, “Here sits a woman who changed grocery stores when the store she regularly shopped at first began stocking beer.”)

Mom had been in for a biopsy two doctors ago. This proved to be hard to read though it eventually came back positive for cancer. (She was getting ready to go learn this news the morning she fell and broke her ankle.) On Wednesday we went to see a head and neck cancer surgeon at Vanderbilt. When he had done a visual exam he found several points of interest he wanted to explore before deciding on a course of action. So, the next step is to go in next week for another biopsy where multiple tissue samples will be taken allowing him to map out what’s going on in Mom’s mouth. We do know that Mom will be facing some invasive oral surgery in the next three or four weeks but the doctor, while trying to prepare Mom for some bad things to come, dodged all questions about specifics until he can read the results from next week’s biopsy.

Please keep Mom in your prayers. She is facing some tough times ahead.

Joe

It's Mowing Season

It is now starting to look and feel like spring. I'm sure we'll have a few cold snaps in the coming weeks but the pear and peach trees are blooming which means other trees and bushes won't be far behind. I mowed the yard today. Thus begins a weekly ritual that will last for the next 8-9 months.

PROGRESS. Mom is making good progress with the walker, and as long as she can avoid low chairs she can do pretty well.

We spent the day at her house Saturday. The kids borrowed Kenny's Gator and put in several hours picking up limbs from her yard. I stayed out of their way and cleaned up the garage a bit as well as the freezer. The freezer hadn't been touched in almost three years and it was a bit discouraging to see the amount of expired and freezer burned food I tossed out.

Mom went back to church Sunday and even taught her Sunday School class. After church we all went out to the 109 Diner in Portland for lunch. I think Mom enjoyed being out of the house.

APRIL FOOLS. I don’t think I’ve written since April Fool’s Day. Kenny called Mom up early that morning and told her the school bus had broken down in front of her house and the all the kids were in her yard. She wised up after a few minutes. As for me, I had to drive out to one of our schools to install a computer. As I was leaving I decided to call Vicki and tell her that I had dropped my keys into a storm drain with no possible way to retrieve them so I was locked out of my truck and stranded. Vicki did not fall for this but one of the ladies I work with sure did.

CONVENTIONS. Jenna got to spend three nights at Opryland Hotel last week. She left school on Monday for the Beta Club convention. When that was over she and several other students checked out but remained in the lobby for the next group from school to arrive for the FCCLA convention. (For those of you who have been out of the high school loop for a while you would know the FCCLA as the Future Homemakers of America or FHA.) This convention earned Jenna a third night away.

Vicki went to Nashville on Thursday to drive Jenna and several other girls back home. The group took some time to go shopping at Opry Mills Mall before heading back.

AMBITIONS. Jenna has been telling me for months that she wants to have a garden this year and replant our strawberry patch. Steve Freeland was kind enough to drive his tractor over and break ground for us this evening. Now to get in there with a tiller and plant some veggies. Steve broke a lot of ground so Jenna will have her hands full this summer.

PRE-WASH. Nate is typical of most ten year old boys in that he is a messy eater. We frequently tell him he needs to wipe his mouth and have learned to specify that he should use a napkin. For his latest trick he likes to announce the "pre-wash" and then commences licking all around his mouth as far as his tongue can reach. I think he likes to embarrass us with this behavior now. What he hasn't thought about is that one of these days he will bring a cute girl home to visit and I will enjoy telling her all these stories. I feel she should know what she's getting into, don't you?

KITTENS. I have written about our cats before. We had three, but Dusty, our gray cat, met his fate on the centerline of the highway during spring break. We still have Miss Cat, Dusty’s mom, and Tagalong, the one that stowed away in my truck from Mom’s house.

I had noticed Miss Cat getting really large back in February and when I mentioned my suspicions that she was pregnant but Vicki thought it was too early in the season for cats to be having kittens. Well, it turns out that I was right. Miss Cat moved her four kittens under our back porch and we saw them this morning. We’ve gotten a good look at two of them, a gray one and a solid black one. Ben even crawled under the porch and held one.

Joe