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