Almost Christmas

Wasn’t it just Thanksgiving? Is Christmas really less than a week away? The past couple of weeks has been sort of like driving through Cross Plains--if you blink you miss it. And if you're wondering if I'm ready for Christmas the answer is no.

SICKNESS. There's some sort of bug going around and I got it. I started feeling rough a week ago Saturday (the 6th) and was puny all last week. Ben has caught this bug now. He started feeling rough on Saturday and has missed church and two days of school as well as Monday's ball game.

CHRISTMAS FESTIVITIES. We have enjoyed a few Christmas festivities in spite of being under the weather. The Cross Plains Christmas Parade was a week ago Saturday. They moved it back to the daytime this year. It was a lot of fun but seemed to be smaller this year than it has been before.

Last Saturday we went to see the Radio City Christmas Spectacular featuring the Rockettes. They've been performing in Nashville for several years and this is their last year to be here. It was quite a show! Everything about it from the dancing to the singing to the costuming was, well, spectacular.

BALL. I mentioned above that Ben missed a ball game. I know he really wanted to play but I think he was feeling too bad from being sick to be disappointed too much. They lost that game by just four points.

They only had one game scheduled last week and we pulled a win off there. It was a nail biter of a game all the way to the end. Both teams fought really hard. I'm proud to see our boys improve like they have.

Ben came home so pumped up from that game that he asked Vicki if she thought they could beat Springfield the next time they played them. Beating Springfield would be a major accomplishment. Vicki brought Ben back down to earth as easily as she could by laying out all the things that would need to happen for us to win that game. Somewhere in there I caught words and phrases like "miracle" and "all their team sick with the flu" and "abducted by aliens" and maybe even “when hell freezes over.” Let's just say anytime you need a reality check call my wife.

A TOUGH DECISION. A few weeks ago Ben came to me and asked me a question. I could tell he had really wrestled with this as he brought it up with me. Ben has decided to leave Boy Scouts.

I think what made this decision so had for Ben is that he did not want to disappoint me. I told him that sometimes in life you have to make the decision to leave a good thing because it isn't the right thing for you and I am proud of him for recognizing that now rather than continuing on with something that would ultimately make him more and more miserable. Nate is still in Scouts and will continue on with it at least for now.

100,000 MILES. My truck joined the 100,000 mile club Wednesday. The odometer "turned over" as Nate and I were going to church. I bought the truck with 27,000 miles on it so I can't claim all that driving on this truck, but this is the third vehicle I've driven to this milestone. Given that it's paid for and running well I think I'll keep it around a bit more.

While I'm thinking about my truck I should mention I've had to dig out my old ice scraper. I've hardly had to use it in 20 years but now that Jenna has a car I've given up my parking spot in the shed for her so my truck gets to park under a tree in the yard. Both boys thought this was really cool at first but the novelty wore off pretty quickly. Fortunately we haven't had a lot of frosty mornings so far.

THE WONDER OF THE WEB. This is one of those things my kids will grow up taking for granted but I cannot. I think you can learn to do most anything from the Internet, and with a smart phone that information is accessible in an unprecedented way.

For example, I've looked up tutorial videos for years to see how to change a light bulb on our vehicles. This may sound a bit funny but when one of the tail lights burned out on my truck I couldn't figure out how to get into the fixture to access the light bulb. Thanks to someone posting a video on YouTube the mystery was solved and I got the job done within five minutes.

I've stepped up to a new level. Our dryer began squeaking a few weeks back. The squeak got worse and worse until we knew something had to give. Neither of us wanted to pay for an appliance repair call. I found a website that sells appliance parts. Their support rep helped me diagnose the problem and sold me a kit with all the parts to fix it for $35. Their instructional video walked me through the repair and 20 minutes later our dryer is quietly drying clothes once again and I am a hero with Vicki.

I make a big deal out of this because to me the idea of chatting to someone in another state through your computer and ordering a part online as well as watching a video on an iPad while I tear down the dryer still seems like it all belongs in the realm of science fiction. I know I work in this every day with my job, but I am simply amazed.

Now, I did draw the line the other day on an Internet assisted self repair of the overflowing septic tank. I was more than happy to pay someone else to do that one. While I'm on the subject, if anyone knows where my 50' sewer tape is please speak up.

Joe

Belated Happy Thanksgiving!

I have just about let November get away from me before sitting down to update our family news. I’ve got some catching up to do as we head into December.

THE PASSING OF AUNT SARA. My cousin, Sara Letsinger, has passed away at the age of 87. She actually passed away three weeks ago today which was just two days shy of her 88th birthday and just a few hours before I wrote last. We saw Aunt Sara last January when we stopped by on our way home from visiting the Jones family after Christmas. She predicted then that she would never get to see us again.

We had a time for family and friends to come and visit with Aunt Sara’s sons, Joe and Bill, and their families this last Sunday afternoon at church. Given that it was a rainy day and Aunt Sara had not lived here since 1963 we felt a nice group of people came out. She was buried in Kokomo, Indiana, next to Uncle Warren on Tuesday.

I have fond memories of the Letsingers visiting us when I was growing up, and we even went up Kokomo to visit them a couple of times. What really stands out most to me of all the memories I have of Aunt Sara is how she would stop and give me her full attention and do her best to relate to me even when I was little. There was something about the way she would engage me that made me feel very special. It was a gift she had and I saw her use it with my children when we visited her last. It’s a skill I hope I will always cultivate in myself.

SCHOOL AND SPORTS. Life has been pretty normal for us coasting in to Thanksgiving break. Nate went on a field trip to the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga on the 13th and Ben missed the last two days of school for the Jr. Beta convention.

The boys ball team now has a win under their belt bringing their record to 1-5. Their win was well earned against Jo Byrns. The last two or three games have been really good for Ben. He has not scored a lot of points, but his game has improved quite a bit. Actually, the whole team is improving a lot. Their season is half over now so it will be interesting to see how the fare when they face all these teams again.

School has really kept Jenna busy and she seems to be making the most of it. She left today for the Sr. Beta convention and will return home Tuesday. One thing that has kept her busy is her psychology class. This is a dual enrollment course taught by a professor from Vol State and he sure has kept this class busy. Jenna is getting a good taste of what it will be like to write a lot of papers in college. She spent a lot of time working on some of these assignments over the break so she wouldn’t have to worry about them Tuesday after the Beta convention. Jenna will be taking a dual enrollment speech class next semester and several more next year which should give her something like 15 hours of college credit by the time she graduates. I’m glad she’s learning how to study for college now because it was a shock to me when I started at MTSU 30 years ago.

GETTING READY FOR HAITI. Jenna, like most people who have experienced a mission trip, wants to return to Haiti. After prayer and discussion Vicki and I have given her the green light to go on a medical trip scheduled for February. Jenna has been working very hard to raise money for her expenses. To that end she is taking orders for pies--fudge and buttermilk--as well as selling chocolate covered peanuts and pecans. We’ve got pies in the oven all the time now. At least the boys are paying attention enough to what’s going on in our house that they know to ask before cutting into a pie on the counter. So, if you want a pie between now and Christmas just let me know. I’ve got connections with the chef.

Since I am on the subject of Haiti I need to mention that Kenny is leaving in a couple of weeks on a trip there and then returning in January. The first trip is so that Papa Noel can visit the orphanage that our church is supporting. Kenny has enjoyed playing Santa Claus for several years now and even bought his own costume. This year her decided to grow out his beard because the fake one just wasn’t working well. He has done this and even lightened it and his hair to look the part. I think Kenny is quite ready to shave now, but he does make a good looking St. Nick and I think the kids at the orphanage are going to thoroughly enjoy him. By the way, when Kenny returns in January he will be taking a group of farmers down there to work with some of the Haitian farmers for improved farming techniques.

OUR THANKSGIVING. I would be remiss if I didn’t tell about our Thanksgiving. It wasn’t big or fancy, but it sure was delicious. Vicki and Jenna outdid themselves yet again. They started cooking Wednesday night and then finished up Thursday morning. We took everything over to Mom’s and ate a little after 1:00. We barely got the dishes cleared away when sleep overtook us. We were all so full none of us were interested in supper but we did enjoy looking at old photo albums. We spent the next day setting up our Christmas tree. And now we have three weeks of school before Christmas break.

Joe

The Colors of Fall

I was very surprised when I checked and saw that I had not written in over two weeks. Now that the kids are older they don’t say as many cute things that I want to write down. Add the normal routine on top of that and two weeks can click by before I notice.

UNEXPECTED COLOR. We had such dry weather all summer that I didn’t expect an impressive display of fall colors from the trees. I guess we got enough heavy rain last month to make the colors really pop out. The odd thing is that our trees peaked later than normal this time. Right now about a third of our trees are in color, a third are brown, and the remaining third are bare with the occasional green tree trying to hold out here and there (like the maple right outside my window).

I did catch my favorite tree on its best day in perfect lighting conditions on my way home from work a few days before Halloween. Its now the wallpaper on my phone so I can enjoy it longer.

TRUNK OR TREAT. Speaking of Halloween, we had our Trunk or Treat at church a week ago Saturday evening. We had a lot of kids to come through, but not as many as we’ve had before. I think our having it the night after Halloween had something to do with it, but we scheduled it that way to avoid a conflict with the high school football game. Besides, the wind chill on Halloween night was pretty rough on all the little spooks around here.

Jenna and Vicki dressed as Mary Poppins and Bert this year. The boys decided not to wear costumes and I wore a sweatshirt that Vicki painted to read, “HTTP ERROR 404: Costume not found” (a play on the error one gets when trying to access a web page that doesn’t exist). It was cold enough that I kept my coat zipped up the whole time so I can reuse my “costume” next year.

BASKETBALL ACTION. The East Robertson Middle School boys now have two games under their belts. They’ve lost both by five points, but they sure did make their opponents earn their victories. Ben has been starting as the center. He played really well his first game but got into foul trouble early in the second game which kept him on the bench most of the time.

This team is very entertaining to watch. There is a lot of raw talent on the team. All of them really stand out in their own way. I hope they can figure out how to play to each other’s strengths before the end of the season.

THE RETURN OF DADDY CAT. It has been about three years now that Jenna and I stopped by to see Mom and Aunt Mar and heard cats crying in the corn field behind the house. We finally located two kittens and an old tom cat that we coaxed up to the house. (He was so shy we assumed he was the mother cat at first.) If I were a betting man I would have placed money on the guess that the old tom cat would not last too long. He looked ragged and beat up with a ragged ear to boot. He also walks with a limp due to arthritis.

This cat, whom we call Daddy Cat, is the only survivor or the three and any cats who have appeared at Mom’s house since. He must be a really tough customer. The summer before last he would disappear for days at a time but last winter’s cold weather kept him close at hand. As a matter of fact the cold weather made him so stiff I wondered how he would survive. When the spring weather hit Daddy Cat disappeared and stayed gone for weeks. He turned up in mid-summer just skin and bones. We fed him and he disappeared again. Well, Daddy Cat knows who his benefactor is and has made his appearance once again. He’s not staying at Mom’s house full time, but he’s frequenting her door enough to let us know we need to put cat food back on the shopping list. If I were a betting man I think I might now place my money on him outliving all of us.

Joe

Visiting the Buckeye State

Last week was fall break for us. I think everyone in the family felt like we had come to the end of a hard run triathlon by the time the break arrived. Last Tuesday we pointed our van toward the Buckeye State for a long awaited vacation. We got a lot of rain, but I think we all had too much fun to care.

HOCKING HILLS. We spent the first part of our time away in the Hocking Hills region of Ohio. There are several state parks in this area and with the cool days and the trees changing color it was a great time to go and enjoy some hiking. We rented a very nice cabin near Logan, Ohio.

As it turned out Tuesday was the rainiest day of all the days we were away. This made for a miserable drive, but at least we weren’t sitting at the cabin wishing the rain would stop.

The next day we went to the Rockbridge Nature Preserve to hike the trails there. We weren’t deterred by the light rain that started when we got there, but Vicki and Jenna turned back about three quarters of a mile in when the rain got significantly harder. The boys and I forged ahead to see the natural bridge, but we were drenched when we got back to the van.

We decided to find some lunch and go shopping after we changed clothes so we drove in to Logan for pizza. Our shopping took us on to some outlet stores in Nelsonville and Rockbridge where we enjoyed poking around places like an Amish stores and antique malls. That evening we went to the movies to see Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.

Thursday morning we planned to eat breakfast at a place based on a brochure we’d picked up only to discover they were only open for breakfast on the weekends so we wasted a lot of our time driving and then retracing our route. Once we had filled up on a large brunch we hiked around the Old Man’s Cave area which was really pretty.

When we had worn ourselves out hiking we returned to Logan where we toured the Columbus Washboard Company. This is the only place in the United States where washboards are still made. The company employes five people, two of whom actually assemble the washboards. These two ladies--who are part time--turn out some 40,000 washboards a year in addition to giving tours of the factory. This is down from the 1.5 million washboards a year the company produced back in the 1930s.

After the tour we found some supper, browsed around another antique mall, and headed back to the cabin a bit early to enjoy playing some games together.

ON TO AKRON. We headed north on Friday to visit my cousins, Grant and Robin Luton and their daughter Lyndsey for a couple of days. After we arrived Grant took us out to see a few of the local sites. That evening we enjoyed supper together.

The next day, Saturday, we went with them to worship. We all really enjoyed their services. That evening Grant’s brother, Bryan, and his family came over for supper. Bryan and Mem have four adorable children and we really enjoyed our visit with them.

All too soon the evening was over, and our vacation was drawing to a close. Grant and Robin fed us a wonderful breakfast Sunday and sent us on our way home.

A SURPRISE GIFT. The last time I visited the Lutons I took copies of a CD I had made from an old audio recording of my grandmother, Joella Swann. She was their aunt. This time I took another CD they weren’t expecting to get.

I think it was one day back in the fall of 1997 that I got a phone call from Mr. John M. Covington. His wife’s brother and sister-in-law, Jennings and Edna Luton, were visiting and they were talking about my dad. He called to invite me to come over while they reminisced so I could hear their stories. My dad and Jennings were first cousins and spent time together in the summers when they were kids. I asked if I could bring a tape recorder and they were only too happy to oblige. So, as we were preparing to leave for our trip I dug up the tape, digitized it, and took the CDs with me.

I arranged with Robin to sneak the CD into the CD player while Bryan and Mem were over for supper. She turned it on while we were talking over dessert. It was really neat to see Bryan and Grant both stop in the middle of the conversation as they realized they were hearing the voices of their late parents, uncle, and aunt.

BACK IN THE ROUTINE. Now that vacation is over we are back in the routine. The only exciting thing to report here is that Ben made the middle school basketball team again this year. We don’t have a schedule yet but we know this will keep us going two nights a week for a while.

Joe

A Touch of Color

Fall is here. The trees are beginning to put on their colors and the weather is getting cooler.

IN MEMORY. We made a quick, unexpected trip to Brandon, Mississippi, to celebrate the life of Darice's dad, Jerry Bowles, who passed away a week ago Sunday (the 5th).

We had known for a while that Jerry had been battling cancer, but he had recently been given 9-12 months to live. Upon learning this he decided to move to Athens to be close to Darice. Little did anyone suspect that he only had two weeks after the move.

I had met Jerry on a couple of occasions, most recently at Cameron's graduation. He really impressed me as someone who would go above and beyond to do something good for others. For example, back in May Jerry made it a special point to speak to each of the graduates even though he didn’t know any of them. It was a small group so this was easily done, but he took the time to do it.

I never knew Jerry when he had legs. Back in January 2000 Jerry happened upon an accident on the interstate where a man have been ejected from his vehicle after a tire blew out and was lying in the highway. He pulled over to help (not knowing the man was already dead) and was struck by a car as he was trying to get a flashlight out of his trunk. He woke up four weeks later having lost both legs at the knee and lucky to be alive. His attitude about this curve life threw his way was phenomenal.

Jerry always impressed me with his positive outlook and a business card he’d had printed up that we spotted on a table with pictures really sums that up. It read:

Part-Time Volunteer
FULL-TIME
Loyal friend, shoulder to lean on
Listener offering a little help now and then
Christian encouraging independence through love.
Jerry Bowles
One who believes life is worth living.

Darice, your dad was, no is, quite a fellow. I wish I’d had more of a chance to know him.

HARD OF HEARING. If you’ve ever been around someone who is hard of hearing then you know things can easily get comical when the person continually misunderstands what is being said.

Apple’s Siri is remarkable technology--making you phone a voice activated personal assistant--but I think “she” is hard of hearing. Vicki likes to use Siri more than I do so I got to see her in action more than normal on our trip to Mississippi and boy did she make us laugh. Sometimes Vicki would ask Siri to look something up on the Internet and she’s get the search request so wrong it was just hilarious. For example, we had stopped in Jackson, Tennessee, for supper and Vicki asked Siri if there was a Whataburger nearby. Siri responded that she didn’t know what that meant and added, “If you’d like, I can search the web for ‘Angry sex bees Quiznos Whataburger.”

To be fair, I think I was reading a list of nearby restaurants from my phone when Vicki asked Siri about a Whataburger (and I think “angry sex bees” was a misunderstanding of “Arby’s, Zaxby’s”), but she (he on Vicki’s phone) made us all laugh.

DID YOU WASH BEHIND YOUR EARS? Our equivalent of that question to the boys at bedtime is “Have you bruised you teeth?”

Vicki asked Ben about this the other night and he said he had. She wasn’t convinced so she pressed the point, several times. Each time Ben said he had until finally Vicki played the “lightning will strike” card. Again, Ben said he had brushed his teeth but this time thunder rumbled outside. Then he said something about kidding and headed off to the bathroom.

THINGS YOUR DENTIST SHOULDN’T HUM. Vicki had a dental appointment the other day and came back laughing at something that happened. Our dentist plays a light rock radio station in his office and as he was working on Vicki’s teeth he was absentmindedly humming along with the music. The song just so happened to be Exile’s 1978 hit “Kiss You All Over.” We are now getting a lot of milage out of picking out songs you wouldn’t want your dentist humming to you when you’re in the chair.

JAMBOREE. I’m backing up a couple of weekends for this last story. Every four years the Middle Tennessee Council has a jamboree. The boys and I went with the troop and had a great time. We estimate there were over 5000 people camping out and several thousand more came just for the day on Saturday (the 4th).

There was a lot to see and do on Saturday. The National guard had an impressive display of tanks, Humvees, and other equipment which included a mobile air traffic control center. There were also a lot of activities for the boy including a bridge building contest, archery, human battleship, and tug-of-war. The evening featured a show and concert starring the Mann Sisters, a duo of twin sisters from Florida.

The only bad thing about the weekend was the unusually cold weather when it had been perfect the whole week before. The highs and lows dipped a good 20° just for us and it got windy. We woke up to a light frost Sunday morning. To add insult to injury no one was allowed to have a campfire due to insurance regulations.

Joe

First Days of Fall

We are enjoying some gorgeous fall weather! Some of the trees are starting to show hints of turning, but I’m not sure how colorful they will be given how dry this summer has been. We could use some rain.

Life has been pretty routine for us so this will be short.

120 YEARS. Mt. Carmel celebrated it’s 120th anniversary last weekend. It was a fun day with plenty of pictures from the past and a potluck dinner after church.

Mr. Wilson McKee was asked to reminisce about our church history. He did a wonderful job drawing from a book about the early church history written by Judge Earl Swann and then moving to his own recollection of people in our church who have touched his life over the years. It was really a good reminder that it takes people who are committed to serving others in the name of our Savior to make a difference. Without that a church is little more than a Christian social club which meets at a nice community center on Sundays and Wednesdays. Mt. Carmel has been blessed with lots of these people over the years. Hopefully those of us who are in the spotlight now are living out their faith the same way.

PUMPKINS. This kids are still picking pumpkins a couple of days a week. Yesterday Jenna had a school related activity which kept her from working so Steve decided to give Nate a try. We were all wondering how Nate would do since Steve had said they would be picking some 25 pounders. When he and Ben got home from working we overheard him saying to Jenna, “It wasn’t too hard of work that I wanted to whine and quit.”

Joe

Just Checking In

The feel of fall is definitely in the air. We are waking up to morning temperatures in the 50s now. Funny how the weekend before last was hot and humid when Nate and I mowed the yard and this past weekend we wore long pants and a light sweatshirt.

HAPPY WORKER. Speaking of mowing, I took Nate with me to mow Mom’s yard. He drove the mower while I trimmed. I thought I heard his voice several times but since the noise from the trimmer drowned most other noises out and it didn’t look like Nate was having any trouble I didn’t go investigate. When we got home Nate climbed back on the mower to cut this yard and I heard him again. Turns out he was singing at the top of his lungs. No particular song, just singing to be singing.

This reminded me of the old go cart the Freelands used to have. I can’t remember when they got it, but we rode the wheels off that thing. We rode it so much we wore out a path around the field behind their house. Brent and I used to take turns riding it and singing at the top of our lungs all the way around.

FIRST PAYCHECK. Jenna and Ben have gotten their first paycheck from Mr. Steve. I saw Jenna rubbing some sore muscles so I’d say she felt like she earned it. What was really funny to me was that the boys and I took a shift selling Boy Scout popcorn at Kroger in Springfield Saturday and Ben was appraising the pumpkins they had for sale there. Several of them did not meet his standards.

IT’S OFFICIAL. I am no longer the tallest one in our family. Ben has me beat by 1/8 of an inch. I knew this day would come...and that he would gloat. That's okay. I outweigh him by about 75 lbs. and can still take him down, though I'm starting to feel that more than I used to.

Joe

September Already?

I began the Swann Family News eleven years ago today. It was a Saturday in 2003 as it is in 2014. Time sure flies!

I find it hard to believe that Labor Day has come and gone. Summer is winding down. This has been a dry summer. Those crops planted late have suffered. We did get over four inches of rain in the last week that offered some relief. As it is, the smell of tobacco barns being fired hangs in the air.

LIMBER GIRL. We took supper of to Mom’s a couple of times last weekend. One of those evenings Jenna called me to the living room saying, “Can you do this, Dad?” She was lying face down on the floor where she had folded her legs, arched her back, and pushing with her hands, raised her head so that she touched the back of her head with her toes.

No, Dad cannot do that. All I managed to do when I tried was a pushup.

A bit later she was sitting on the floor with her legs folded under her when she laid back flat on the floor. (Picture her laying flat on her back with her legs folded so that her feet are still under her rear.) Then she invited the boys to copy her. Being the young, gullible sort they eagerly set out to show their sister they could do anything she could. They quickly found out their quads aren’t as flexible as Jenna’s.

BEES. Back in July I mentioned that we had a hive of bees in one of the front porch columns, and that a friend of mine was trying to get them to move. Well, he has coaxed a large number of bees to move into his hive box. Last weekend he returned with an established colony of bees in another box and took the box that had been here away. His plan is to introduce the bees from here into another colony while leaving the new group of bees to attack what’s left of the bees in my column and clean out the honey in there. This plan can backfire if his bees like my column better than their current home, at which point he will start over and try again. But if this goes as planned there will be little honey left on my column and I will be able to clean and repair it safely.

What was really interesting is that he brought a flexible camera (or snake camera) with him to look around inside the column. The flexible piece is only about a foot long, but we got to look around at what was going on in there. We have no idea how far the honeycomb goes up the column, but there was plenty of it at the bottom where he inserted the camera. It was fascinating to see the bees crawling around.

PICKING PUMPKINS. Jenna and Ben have been offered a short-term job picking pumpkins for Steve Freeland. Today was their first day and they both put in about four hours. I think he’ll be able to keep them busy in the afternoons and on Saturdays for several weeks.

Steve has grown and sold pumpkins at his house for the last 16 years. The kids learned today that he raises over 50 varieties of pumpkins on about 8 acres of his farm. These varieties range in size from small, decorative ones that are golf ball sized to some large enough to require two people to lift them. He told the kids he grows 12,000-14,000 pumpkins a year. He fills large orders for some wholesalers as well as selling to the public himself. Most of these are for fall and Halloween decorations, but he raises pie pumpkins as well. I’m just amazed at the number of pumpkins he grows.

Joe

Back in School

I feel like I have accomplished something every year when we get the first full week of school behind us. The weeks leading up to the start of school in my job is a lot like the Christmas shopping season for a retailer or tax season for a CPA. The same can be said for Vicki as she gears up for the regular “school year” activities at church. Now, hopefully, life can find its normal rhythm.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME. My 48th birthday rolled around back on Wednesday. My birthday dinner was originally planned for Friday night, but, as you’ll read below, it wound up getting pushed back to yesterday evening. Vicki and Jenna got their heads together and planned what was practically a Thanksgiving style feast! We were as full as ticks and too miserable to move now.

GOODBYE DAVID LEE. I have lost another first cousin. David Lee Thompson passed away at his home a little before 7:30 pm on Wednesday (my birthday). He was 84. I say I “lost another” because David’s sister, Marijo, passed away eight years ago.

You can find David’s obituary here.

David suffered from kidney failure. His wife, Betty Jo (Tuttie), called me back on July 13 (it was the Sunday afternoon before VBS started) to let me know David was on Hospice care. I got to visit him about a week or so ago. David didn’t feel like talking much, but he did retell a few old stories, like the time our great grandmother met Frank and Jesse James.

David spent a lot of his time as a boy at our grandparents’ home. He would always refer to Mr. Caner and Mrs. Jo Ella as “Father” and “Mama” just like our aunts and uncles did. He and Betty Jo lived in my house when they were first married. Their daughter, Emaly, was born while they were living here. Soon after that they moved to Nashville where David wound up becoming a police officer for Metro. He was a detective by the time he retired 31 years later. He then served as Chief Deputy for Robertson County before retiring again, this time to farming.

When he and Betty Jo left Nashville they restored an old tenant farmer’s house on Baggett Road. They had a wonderfully large yard with a creek running through it and would host the best Easter Egg hunts for the family. We also enjoyed many pleasant evenings playing croquet with them by the creek.

I really enjoyed my visits with them as they are both delightful people. I have one of those visits on video tape. It was May 8, 1989, and they consented to my filming and they reminisced about life. The interview lasted about 90 minutes. The tape is full of all sorts of stories about life around Mamma and Father’s house as well as other family anecdotes. This visit and a Reader’s Digest article inspired me to interview other relatives and eventually edit the best stories into a documentary film that I gave to the family one Christmas (1993, I think).

We have no way of knowing what the afterlife is like, but I like to imagine that David is now reminiscing with the folks in heaven about those of us who are still here on earth, catching them up on all that has been going on here. He would be a good one for that.

Joe

School Days Are Here Again

At the risk of being redundant I have to comment on how unseasonably cool this summer has been. The weather has warmed up to more normal temperatures this week, but last week I walked out the door several mornings when leaving for work and thought, “Fall is here!” Sure enough, when I looked over at the thermometer and the temp was in the high 50s.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BEN! Can he really be 14 years old? I guess he is. He’s practically looking me in the eye now. His voice has grown deeper. He has leg hair (which is fun to pull when he’s not looking). All this adds up to my son being 14.

What Ben wanted to do most for his birthday was invite his friends, Jake and Luke, over to spend the night. This happened Friday night and between the Nerf bullets flying around the house and the chirping of all sorts of electronic games the four boys had an excellent time. They were after midnight going to bed and back up playing before 6:00. Ben may be 14, but there’s still a kid in there somewhere.

Sunday afternoon Vicki and Jenna fixed a nice supper for Ben and we took it over to Mom’s to share the meal with her. They found a new recipe for a cake that they tried out. It was essentially brownie with chocolate chips covered by a layer of cheesecake topped with chocolate icing. It was really good but so rich even Mom couldn’t do seconds.

BACK TO SCHOOL. The kids are back in school now. Yesterday was registration day and today is the first full day of classes. We went to open house last night. It was all very odd not to have to rush over to the elementary school. Nate was a little nervous about his first day, but he did fine.

I won’t go into the boys’ schedules as they have the standard fare of middle school classes, but Jenna does have an interesting lineup this fall. Her first two classes are Advanced Algebra II and ACT Prep. After that she takes a bus to Springfield High for Medical Therapeutics. When that is over she returns to East Robertson for Psychology. This last class is a dual enrollment course with Volunteer State Community College so she will earn three hours of college credit as well as high school credit.

Her Psychology class follows the Vol State schedule so it doesn’t start for three more weeks. This allows her to have an ongoing early dismissal from school every day. And when this class does start it only meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays so she’ll be able to continue leaving early most days. I would have loved that thirty years ago.

This is a good thing for Mom who has been lamenting her luck now that Jenna has her license and a car. Jenna takes the boys to school but the boys still ride the bus home to Mom’s house so she will have them to look forward to most days.

BACK TO SCHOOL SHOPPING. Of course, with the start of the school year comes all the Back to School shopping. Vicki took the boys out shopping a week ago yesterday (the 28th) and she made sure to do plenty of fun things with them (like take them to Game Stop).

She texted me at one point in the day from a try on area in a clothing store (I’ve corrected the spelling and punctuation for readability):

So, I’m at Opry Mills with the boys and a lady asks Nate how many items he has to try on. He replies, “Too many!” The boy had to count all the way up to three!!!

IN THE NEWS! One thing to check out on the Internet is a news story that RFD-TV did on the Threshermen’s Show this year. The story features an interview with Jackie and Charlie. You can find it here on the RFD-TV site.

Joe

Weird Animals and More

I can hardly believe the end of July is here. This week begins the last week of summer vacation for the kids.

WEIRD ANIMALS. It looked to me like VBS was a big success. I think our average attendance was 175. All I really know is that we had weird animals all over the place!

We departed from the norm slightly this year in that our VBS ran from Monday (the 14th) through Thursday with family night last Friday night (for the last several years we’ve begun on Sunday night and had family night on Thursday). This seemed to work well and gave Vicki some extra time between church and the start of VBS to work out those last minute details.

Another departure from previous years is that we had family night at Kilgore Park rather than at church. This was a lot of fun but almost got rained out. It got to drizzling so much that after the hamburgers and hot dogs were served we almost decided to cut the festivities short and go home. Thanks to smart phones and access to local radar on the Internet we decided to stick it out and let a fun evening run its course.

WHEAT THRESHING. The next day we got up early and drove to Adams for the Threshermen’s Show. We got there in time for the parade and the first wheat threshing of the day. Then we ate lunch and wandered around a bit before heading home to de-decorate the church from VBS.

COOL WEATHER. The Friday night of VBS family night (the 18th) was not only rainy, it was also unseasonably cool. I’m not sure if the temperature even made it to 70° making the day a good 20° cooler than normal for this time of year. I saw several folks sporting light jackets. This persisted into the next day making the Threshermen’s Show very pleasant this year.

The weather has since returned to more seasonable temperatures, but overall this has been a very pleasant summer, if dry. Jenna’s garden sure could use some rain. There’s only been a couple of days where I walked out the door and the humidity seemed to take my breath away so I’m not complaining at all. We’ve also seen very few mosquitos since early June. I sure don’t miss them.

BEES. Speaking of insects, the guy who painted our roof pointed out to me that we had what he thought was a nest of yellow jackets in our front yard. It turns out that we’ve got a hive of bees to take up residence in one of our front porch columns, the same one where there was a hive of bees when we moved in back in 1995. I’ve called a friend of mine who is a beekeeper and he has rigged a system to prevent the bees from reentering the column, forcing them to move into a portable hive which he has placed on the porch next to the column. It’ll take a couple of months for them to move, but when they do we’ll be able to safely clean out and repair the column. And maybe we can keep the bees nearby so they can do their job.

GETTING AWAY. I’ve allowed myself to be sidetracked with the weather and the bees (but not the birds) so I’ll get back on track now. Right after church and lunch last Sunday Vicki and the kids headed out for a week of fun with the Jones family in Georgia. They came back Friday. This has become an annual trip for Vicki allowing her to unwind after all the summer activities. I know all the girls went shopping a couple of times and they also played tennis a couple of times, but other than that they stayed around the house cooking, eating, swimming, and playing games. As a matter of fact, thanks to the Internet Nate and Zachary are continuing some game they’ve been playing.

MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE RANCH... I was unable to get away due to preparing to start school at work so Mom and I wound up doing things together most evenings. One night we went out to eat and drove all over the country returning dishes where neighbors have sent her something to eat.

Thursday night we went to the Cross Plains Heritage Commission meeting. It was a potluck dinner so I stretched my cooking skills and took salad. Our featured speaker was a retired history professor from Vol State, Dr. Stephen Driver, who has compiled a book of Facebook posts he’s made about interesting historical facts. His Facebook page had become so popular with friends and former students that he decided to compile the book. He was certainly knowledgable and entertaining.

DENNING REUNION. We all went to Orlinda after church today for the annual Denning reunion. Unfortunately, I do not know this branch of my family all that well, but it was nice to see the people I do know. Pete Denning, Mom’s first cousin, told a story on my grandfather, Jerry, that I’ll share here because I don’t want to forget it.

Jerry was actually my grandfather’s nickname. His real name was Andrew Benton (making our son his namesake). Pete referred to him as Uncle Benton. Pete’s dad was Jerry’s older brother, Joe. Jerry had a reputation for being a very fast, very efficient worker. I’ve heard people say they could hardly keep up with him, even when he was older and his contemporaries were slowing down. Pete’s story hinges on knowing these things.

What Pete recalled was a time when they were cutting tobacco (Pete remembered details like which fields they were working in, etc.) and Jerry was helping them. Pete’s dad had a black man working for him named George. They were about to get started for the day and two wagons were loaded with tobacco while the rest that had been cut the day before was still on the ground waiting to be “hung” on the stick. Joe decided he would take the loaded tobacco and the crew to the barn to house it, leaving Jerry and George in the field to hang what was on the ground.

Jerry had never worked with George before and based on a first impression was concerned that George would not be able to work fast enough for them to have another wagon loaded by the time the crew at the barn needed it. Joe tried to allay Jerry’s fears by saying that George would work hard and do all he was capable of and that if the rest of the crew needed to come back and help them hang the tobacco they would. This didn’t make Jerry feel any better, but he and George got started while the rest went to the barn.

Pete said when they got done housing tobacco and came back to the field Jerry and George were working in two separate rows about as far apart as “the length of this room” (say, 40 feet). Joe complimented his brother saying, “Well Benton, you’ve almost lapped George there.” To which Jerry replied, “Lapped him heck, I’m this far behind!”

Joe

Breathless

I think I have rebelled. We sprinted through June, everyone going on some sort of trip. There are no more camps or mission trips on our calendar so we’ve all been home for the past two weeks, but preparations for Vacation Bible School have been all we are about all this time, especially for Vicki and Jenna. Fortunately Vicki has gotten a lot of donated decorations from other churches in the area which has saved her some time. At any rate, the pace of life has been fast and I simply haven’t sat down to record any of it.

INDEPENDENCE DAY. We did pause from all our activity to enjoy the Fourth of July. It was a pleasant day. Two years ago we burned up with triple digit highs. Last year we froze with a record breaking cold day and rain. This year the weather couldn’t have been more pleasant. It actually felt like an early spring day.

We started the day off with the Kilgore Remembrance ceremony, a tradition for us. When that was over we came back home and I think most of us fell asleep. By that evening we headed up to Kilgore Park where we ate, enjoyed some music and other entertainment, and ended the evening with fireworks. For a small town Cross Plains is getting pretty good at putting on a fireworks show. Vicki and I enjoyed just relaxing in our chairs the whole time. Jenna ran into some girls she has kept when babysitting and they snuggled down in the chair with her so I don’t think she could have gotten up if she wanted to. And the boys ran into some friends and ran off to play. I think it wound up being the perfect way to spend the Fourth for all of us.

ODE TO THE FRIGIDAIRE. I unplugged Mom’s old refrigerator the other day. Mom sent me out to the garage to either put something in or get something out of it and I noticed the odor when I opened it. After all these years it had quit cooling.

This fridge is the one Dad bought before he and Mom married in 1958. It sat in their kitchen (well, our kitchen since we live in their old house) until some time after Dad passed away. Mom had it moved over to Aunt Mar’s garage when I was little, probably when she began to rent out her house. So, I think when a fridge puts in at least 56 years of faithful service it needs an honorable mention. I suspect that if we could get some freon to recharge it we might find that it still has more life left in it, but I think retirement is a better option for it at this age.

Joe

More Catching Up

Given the topics of the last two times I’ve written I’ve got three weeks of catching up to do.

CAMP, CAMP, CAMP. I mentioned before that the boys were at summer camp (that was the week of June 8). It wasn't hot like it was last year, but they sure got the rain. I saw them on Tuesday (the 10th) and Vicki and I ate with them on Friday (the 13th--see below). They both looked like they were having the time of their lives. This time their campsite was on the shore of Old Hickory Lake and their tent was about 30 feet from the water.

Both boys took the Green Bar class which focuses on getting the skills required for their next rank--Ben for First Class and Nate for Tenderfoot. Ben also had merit badge classes for Archery and Emergency Preparedness while Nate had classes for Basket Weaving, First Aid, and Soil & Water Conservation.

I brought the boys home that Saturday morning. Nate only had the weekend at home before he and Vicki left for CentriKid camp. Their group pulled out that Monday (the 16th) and returned home a week ago Friday (the 20th). They returned to Campbellsville University. I think I have said before that CentriKid focuses on one’s relationship with God. The daily schedule is bookended with worship experiences but also includes Bible study time and recreation time. In the afternoons the kids have some “track times” to take some classes that interest them. Nate’s tracks “in this order” were Weird Science, Build It, and Art Studio. Nate had so much fun he is really hoping that he doesn’t have to choose between CentriKid and Boy Scout camp next year.

With Vicki and Nate gone Jenna, Ben and I spent a quiet week at home. We enjoyed each other, but Jenna and I commented that we were looking forward to Nate returning home so Ben would have someone else to aggravate. Ben really did miss Nate and was disappointed when he didn’t get to talk to him for a couple of days. All brotherly love/aggravation aside Nate was a sad boy last Tuesday morning (the 24th) when we took Ben to church for him to go with the youth group to CentriFuge.

CentriFuge is the camp experience for teens that CentriKid is modeled after. Our group headed out early that morning to make the drive to the Ridgecrest Conference Center in North Carolina. They returned yesterday. Ben had a great time and talked more about this camp than he has about any other in the past. He said several times his favorite part was the worship services. He also had track times: Table Games and Hiking. I think he enjoyed hiking the best.

Here at home Vicki has started getting into VBS mode, and these next two weeks see her immersed in preparations. Jenna is getting some babysitting work lined up and her schedule is filling up as well.

TWENTY YEARS. It is hard to believe that Vicki and I celebrated our 20th anniversary. Unfortunately we were apart on the day with her being out of town at CentriKid. We celebrated the Friday before (the 13th) spending the entire day together doing some shopping, eating lunch at the Korea House in West Nashville (one of our favorites), catching Maleficent on the big screen, and then driving out to Boxwell to share dinner with the boys. It wasn't the Hawaiian vacation we've dreamed of but it was a fun day with my bride. Maybe we'll get to Hawaii some day.

SPEAKING OF THE MOVIES. Vicki and I really enjoyed Maleficent. If you are a fan of Disney fairy tales you should put it on your list of movies to see. Then the next day, since the boys were back home, we all went out to see How to Train Your Dragon 2 which was also a lot of fun. This was our Father's Day outing.

TRASH AND TREASURES. One thing Ben missed while he was away at camp was Trash and Treasurers. Vicki, Nate, and I got up early Friday morning and browsed around town looking for a few deals. (Jenna opted out. She participated in the Adie’s House ministry at church.) Treasures were few and far between. Yesterday morning we all worked the concession stand for the Cross Plains Heritage Commission. We did well until the lunch rush when we could have used a second grill.

REFLECTIONS. You know, I’m tired after rereading all we’ve done in the last three weeks--and this weekend is the halfway point of the kids’ summer break. July will be gone before we know it and we’ll be getting geared up for another school year. At least we are all staying put for a bit.

Joe

Farewell Bro. Bill

Our pastor, Bill Owen, has resigned. He has decided it is time to move on and pursue other ministry opportunities. We are all very sad as we have enjoyed him, his wife Cindy, and their sons in our church for the last 32 years.

Bro. Bill came to us in 1982. I was 15 years old at the time. In that time our entire community has been touched by his ministry here which has gone far beyond the hundreds of sermons he has delivered from our pulpit. Just speaking for my family alone he officiated our wedding 20 years ago, he has dedicated and baptized all three of our children, he has been there for us when we were sick, celebrated life with us when times have been good, and buried our loved ones. Of course, my family has had a very close connection with Bro. Bill. Mom was his secretary for 25 years and Vicki has worked with of him for the last 6.

There’s no telling how many weddings and funerals he has done over the years along with visiting the sick and counseling the hurting. And his ministry hasn’t stopped there. He and Cindy have been very active in our community. For example, Bro. Bill coached baseball teams for years when his boys were young.

I don’t think about it too much, but it is sort of odd that we give our pastor the title of “Brother” when in most other churches he would be known as “Pastor Bill.” This has simply been the tradition in these parts. I asked why when I was a boy and it was explained to me that it was because we regard our pastor as our brother in Christ. At any rate, he has been Bro. Bill, or just “Bill,” to all of us except my mom who has faithfully called him “Bro. Owen” all this time.

As I reflected on Bro. Bill’s leaving yesterday and the next steps we will be taking to find a new pastor, it really hit home with me that the vast majority of folks who are part of our church family have only seen one pastor in our pulpit. It’s very out of the ordinary that I--a member at Mt. Carmel all my life--only remember three pastors (well, four if you count Bruce Grubbs who was the interim for a year and a half before Bro. Bill came). Bruce Ousley (last name pronounced with a long O) was our pastor in my earliest memory. He came to us in 1936, left sometime in the 1950s to pastor a church in Texas for several years, returned for a second tenure, and retired in 1970, giving us 26 years of service. He was followed by Don Dorris who was our pastor for ten years, leaving in 1981. (I shared some memories of Bro. Dorris when he passed away back in March 2008.) Our church is 120 years old this year and these three men have collectively been our pastors for over half that time.

Our church has a big task ahead (Baptist churches generally have to find their own pastors) because Bro. Bill leaves big shoes to fill. This is only compounded by the fact that given the length of Bro. Bill’s tenure with us no one in my generation has ever needed to serve on a pastor search team before. We were all kids when people like my mom were looking to fill the position after Bro. Dorris left. We would appreciate your prayers as we tackle this job.

Bro. Bill, we love you and we’re going to miss you. You’ve been family. We are praying for you as you take some time to decompress after three decades with us and refocus on what’s next. I am looking forward to hearing about where God takes you from here.

Joe

The Haiti Report

As promised, this is the report from Jenna’s trip to Haiti. She preferred that I interview her rather than her write up this edition on her own so here goes.

TRIP ITINERARY. The team left Nashville on Friday, May 30 and flew to Miami where they spent the night. They got up early the next morning and flew to Port au Prince where they transferred to two, small engine planes for the final leg of the trip to Jeremie, which is located near the western tip of the southern peninsula. They stayed in Jeremie the entire week and made the return trip home on Friday, June 6.

The purpose of the trip was to provide medical care to the community and to immunize the children at the Emmanuel Orphanage, the orphanage our church is sponsoring. The team went to two church services on Sunday. They hosted community clinics on Tuesday and Thursday of that week. They immunized the children at Emmanuel on Monday.

We were very fortunate to receive some large donations to immunize the children at Emmanuel. Jenna remembers that each child got three shots, one for Hepatitis.

EMMANUEL ORPHANAGE. The orphanage we sponsor is home to about 55 children. It was due to be closed down when some of our church members discovered it on mission trips last summer. In that time the orphanage has gotten a new facility and families have agreed to sponsor individual children.

Jenna says they are all really sweet children. Like any group of kids some were shy and others were outgoing even though we do not speak a common language. They didn’t enjoy getting their shots.

They are clean and well cared for though the kids don’t have much in the way of individual possessions. For example, all their clothing is in a community closet. Jenna’s impression was that it was like a big family because the older ones look out for and help the younger ones. They now get three meals a day along with juice. Before we found them they were lucky to get one meal a day and water. All the kids of school age go to school, which is more that can be said for other children in their area due to the expense.

The kids greeted our team with singing and dancing each time they arrived at the orphanage. After that they would come up to play or simply be near.

Emmanuel wan’t the only orphanage Jenna visited. There is also Lundy Orphanage nearby which is larger (some 180 kids) and sponsored by another church in our area. Jenna said this facility was overwhelming.

HEALTH CLINICS. These gave our team a chance to see people of the community. Jenna said this was her favorite part of all. Her assignment was to help the three nurses who were on the team (she was their gofer). She basically helped people get where they needed to go. She said they treated  about 115 people on Tuesday and an additional 30 people on Thursday. Turn out for Thursday’s clinic was low due to miscommunication. They were all very appreciative of the services our team provided.

IMPRESSIONS OF HAITI. I asked Jenna what things stuck out to her about Haiti and Haitians. The first thing she mentioned was their clean clothes. She said everyone in the group noticed this.

Jenna rode on a bus quite a bit to get from place to place (Jeremie is larger than Springfield) and said that people would return waves and smile as the bus passed. I think what really impressed her here is that the Haitians seem to have a general sense of happiness even though we might say they don’t have much to be happy about.

Jenna enjoyed the food, especially the fresh bananas and pineapple. Rice was such a main staple she’s said she’ll take a break from rice for a while. The breakfasts were very American with pancakes, french toast, etc. They had brought the fixings for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as wells as bacon for their lunches, and their suppers were a mix of American and Haitian fare.

HOPING TO REUTRN. As I said before, Jenna is hoping to return. She would like to go in December but that won’t fit the school schedule too well, maybe next summer. If you have any questions for Jenna feel free to send us an email.

Joe

Catching Up

We have had some of the most pleasant weather this week even with the rain we've gotten. I'm glad for the mild temps for the sake of the fellows who are painting our roof.

HOME FROM HAITI. Jenna is back home now. She came home late Friday night, and the first thing she said to me after getting out of the car was, “I’m going back.”

The main purpose for this trip was to provide medical support. They took vaccines for the kids in the orphanage we work with. They also hosted a couple of medical clinics for the general public in the area. Bro. Bill also went to lead a marriage counseling seminar for local pastors. Jenna has promised that she would write up a piece about her experiences to share so I don’t want to steal her thunder, but I will say it sounds like the trip was a success.

A QUIET HOUSE. Jenna is home and the boys are gone. I took them to Boxwell Reservation today to begin their week of summer camp with the Scout troop. Nate got a bit of the camp experience last summer. He and I stayed with the troop while he did Webelos Resident Camp, but this is his first time as a Boy Scout. Their camp site is right on the shore of Old Hickory Lake and the boys chose a tent that’s about 30 feet from the water. It’s a perfect setup!

WELCOME US TO THE 21ST CENTURY! There are three things I've always wished I could change about our house. I've wished we lived on a seldom traveled country road rather than a highway. It would be nice to have more than one bathroom and a separate laundry room, though we do pretty well with what we have. And I've always wished we could get good Internet service.

I am happy to report that we now have good Internet service and can join the ranks of millions of people who take the Internet for granted. When we first moved out here our only option was dial-up. About six years ago we switched over to satellite service. This was better than dial-up but it was expensive and came with severe data limits. We regularly exceeded the data limit and suffered from near dial-up speeds leaving our service pretty much useless except for checking email. It was a regular experience for me to spend five minutes emailing this newsletter and posting it to Blogger--that's after typing it up and giving Vicki a chance to proofread it.

We now have a new service provider expanding in our area and we signed on with them about three weeks ago. The Internet is actually a useful service for us now! We've been able to video chat in real time where this was a terrible experience before. I came in the other day to find Nate was playing a card game with his cousin Zachary in Georgia. Just the other morning I needed to get up super early to run some software updates on one of our servers at work when it would not affect others in doing their jobs. I normally drive in to the office for this. This time I took my laptop to the living room, logged in to the network at work (VPN), remotely logged in to the server like I would if I were sitting at my desk, and did all the work that I needed to do--and I did all this while sitting on the couch watching a program on the Smithsonian channel streamed over the Internet though our Apple TV (which I won in a drawing back in March). When I got done I went back to bed. I could not have done any of this a month ago.

With our Apple TV we could actually "cut the cord" if we had one to cut. Seeing how we have an old-fashioned TV antenna we'll keep that for additional TV options, but we sure have enjoyed watching the on demand programming now available to us.

Who knows, with our new Internet service I might even send a few pictures your way. Of course, that will mean getting into the habit of downloading, organizing, and posting them somewhere before they are terribly out of date. We have a lot of catching up to do.

Joe

The Last Mission

This edition is all about my trip to the final reunion of the 73rd Bomb Wing. I'll catch you up on what went on at the home front in the future.

The 73rd Bomb Wing Association was formed in the 1970s and began holding annual reunions in 1976. The first reunion I attended was in 2006 after I met Mr. and Mrs. Krantz. As you know, I have attended several reunions since then which has afforded me the opportunity to meet many interesting people, including three men who flew with my father and one who shared a Quonset hut with him. I've also gotten to see pictures and documents that I never knew existed and to crawl inside a couple of B-29s. I missed the last two reunions because the kids were getting older and our schedule was getting crazier, however, this being the last reunion ever I decided to make the trip. The organization will disband after this event, though there is a group of people trying to form a new organization to pick up where this one leaves off.

THE ITINERARY. Vicki drove me to the airport Wednesday morning. I arrived in Wichita around 4:30. The Pre-Flight Social kicked things off for the reunion that evening.

Thursday featured a trip by bus out to Pratt, Kansas. This was the site of an Army Air Base back in the war and many men from the 73rd got their flight training in a B-29 there. (Dad was assigned to Clovis, New Mexico, and Kearney, Nebraska for his flight training.) The main purpose of this trip, though, was the memorabilia (more on that below). We ate lunch at the Uptown Cafe in Pratt and then attended a ceremony to honor the veterans of the 73rd.

Friday was our "stay home" day. The 73rd had their final business meeting that morning. Lots of people were thanked for their service to the organization and then we were updated on ongoing efforts to make research and education information available. This was followed by the group luncheons where each bomb group gets together. This has always been the highlight of the reunion for me because you hear things here that aren't shared in any other setting. The tenor of this luncheon wasn't the same as it has been in the past, probably because this was the last one. A banquet was held that evening and the featured speaker was Col. Jennifer Uptmor who was probably one of the best speakers we've had at the reunions I have attended.

We boarded the buses again on Saturday and visited Doc, a B-29 that is being restored to flight status (more on that below). After lunch we took a windshield tour of Wichita before heading back to the hotel. I also spent a little time with my cousin (more on this below) before the recognition banquet and dance that was held that evening.

The final event of the reunion was the farewell breakfast Sunday. I got to enjoy this before catching my flight back home which took me the northern route through Chicago. Vicki met me at the airport and we enjoyed lunch together before heading home.

CATCHING UP WITH FRIENDS. The Pre-Flight Social was where I caught up with a lot of my friends, though I wound up sitting with some total strangers. One gentleman I sat with actually flew with the 58th Bomb Wing and told of his experiences flying missions from China and having to fly their supplies in from India over the Himalayas. These supply missions were called "hump" missions because they went over the mountains. They were so treacherous due to altitude and weather the crews got combat credit and the missions were denoted on the planes with a camel. Another gentleman sitting at the table continued in the service after the war for another 20 years. He earned his pilot’s wings and flew in the Berlin Air Lift and then continued to fly heavy bombers--the B-47 and the B-52--until he left the service. After some time in private industry and then flying for TWA he wound up flying private jets for a wealthy family from the Middle East...the bin Ladens. Needless to say, it was not your typical conversation around the table.

I got a chance to catch up with several folks I had met at previous reunions. I spent a lot of time visiting with Carl Barthold who shared the Quonset hut with my dad. He is quite a character and full of all sorts of interesting stories. He also kept a diary (contrary to orders) while he was on Saipan so he has a great tool for aiding his memory and verifying his facts. Mr. Barthold features prominently in Mission to Tokyo by Robert Dorr which was published a couple of years ago.

I also caught up with Bill and Joan (pronounced Jo Ann) Agee and met their nephews who attended for the first time. Mr. Agee will always be special to me because he has been so patient to answer my questions.

Two people I greatly missed at this reunion were Jim and Mildred Krantz, however, their family was represented by their daughters Lynda and Cathy; Cathy's husband, Randy; and their sister-in-law, Linda. I had a good time catching up with all of them.

As far as I know Bob Stangland and Achilles Stathas are the only ones from Dad’s crew still living. Unfortunately neither of them came to the reunion. I missed them as well.

MEMORABILIA. Over the years the 73rd Bomb Wing Association has amassed a large collection of memorabilia. From early on people started bringing their scrapbooks, records, etc. As time went on these things were donated to the association. There are currently over 70 boxes of books, albums, journals, memoirs, records, and war souvenirs. These things have been in the care of one gentleman since 2000 and he has faithfully brought everything that would fit in his van to each reunion. The organization has struggled with the question of what will happen to all this stuff in the future. They looked into many options over the years but none would satisfy the group until an offer by the Bombers on the Prairie Museum in Pratt came to their attention. This museum has promised to properly display the memorabilia and give researchers access to it. After visiting the museum, which has a great start for a new facility, we went over to the Armory where we had about 30 minutes to look through all the boxes that had not been brought to Wichita for display in the memorabilia room at the reunion. I hope to return to Pratt someday and look through what I saw there because most of what was at the Armory none of us had ever seen before.

DOC. Doc is one of eight training Superforts that was built late in the war and named for Snow White and each of the Seven Dwarfs from the Disney movie, and is the only one of the eight surviving. We got to tour Doc at the 2010 reunion but this was a much more pleasant experience as it was a cooler day and Doc was inside a hangar this time. The people restoring Doc have made a lot of progress over the last four years and hope to have it airworthy by early fall of this year. Like last time the cockpit area was closed off, but I got to crawl around all over the rear cabin and even back to the tail gunner’s position. I took over 100 pictures in and around the plane.

AN UNEXPECTED PLEASURE. My cousin, Penny, and her husband, Don, have lived in Wichita since he was called to be the pastor of Plymouth Congregationalist Church there is 2007. Saturday I decided to give Penny a call since I was in town to say hi and she said she was close by and would come over. We wound up going out to Stearman Field where they have a plane hangared and where a Stearman fly-in happened to be going on (think of this event as something like an antique car show but with vintage airplanes, Stearman biplanes in this case). We sat in the restaurant for a while visiting and watching planes come and go. After that I got a tour of their house and Don’s church which are both beautiful. I didn’t get to spend much time with Don because he was officiating a wedding, but I thoroughly enjoyed my visit with Penny and I am glad I called her up.

WRAP UP. As you can tell, it was a really good trip and I had a great time. I am back home now, but Jenna has gone to Haiti with a mission team from our church and won’t be home until Friday. We are getting regular updates by text from Jenna and the team so we know they are all okay and how things are going. I told her she would have to share her experiences here when she gets back so that will be coming in the next week or so. Please pray for Jenna and the rest of the team while they are away.

Joe

Summer Has Begun!

School is out and summer break has begun! What fun, what fun!

ELEMENTARY IS OVER. I know I have said this before, but I need to say goodbye to a chapter of my children's childhood in my own way.

Friday Nate walked out of East Robertson Elementary for the last time as a student. This ends an eleven year stretch of our kids attending that school. Vicki picked him up after their awards ceremony was over that morning and he left a happy boy. I think it was more of a bittersweet moment for Vicki.

VISITING COUSINS. Jim, Dianna, Alex, and Chris came up and spent Memorial Day weekend with us again this year. They arrived mid-afternoon on Friday after spending the two previous nights camping in Stone Mountain, Georgia. When they got here our kids and Mom met them at Thomas Drugs for milk shakes. By the time I got off work the party had moved to Mom's house where we had supper and visited for the evening.

The next morning we met with the Scouts to place flags in the cemeteries in White House. Then we did some things toward the Farm Mechanics merit badge (more on that below). That evening we all went out to the Catfish House for supper.

The cousins from Ashland City all came for lunch and an afternoon of fun Sunday. We enjoyed playing and visiting until dark.

All too soon Monday morning came and we watched the Cotter van leave our driveway and head toward home.

FARM MECHANICS. From the time that Alex, the older brother, joined Boy Scouts Chris has wanted the Farm Mechanics merit badge. He had simply looked through the merit badge list, spotted it, and thought it would be cool to earn for himself. To earn a merit badge you have to have a counselor, and in all the time Chris has been a Scout they have not found anyone in Central Florida available to do that. This is where I come in.

Several months ago Dianna contacted me and asked if I would be willing to be the merit badge counselor for this badge for Alex and Chris (and for my boys as well). I had the experience growing up, so why not? So, we decided what they could do from home ahead of time and planned time on this trip for the requirements they couldn't.

After placing flags at the cemetery we stopped by Will Ed's shop to look around. Neither Will Ed nor Samuel were there, but I was able to give them enough of a tour for them to understand how a shop like that functions on a farm.

That afternoon, after picking strawberries and having lunch at Mom's, we came back home and I directed the boys in servicing my mower. We took care of everything from changing the oil to greasing all the fittings. About the only thing we didn't do was sharpen the blades.

Now Chris (and Alex) can check this off his childhood bucket list and sport a merit badge on his sash that is rare for his district.

Joe

Graduation News

It's graduation time! Congratulations to Emily Yergler on her graduation from Palm Beach Atlantic University, Andrew Swann from Davidson Academy, Keaton Raglin from White House Heritage High School, and Cameron Jones from home school.

AWARDS. I failed to mention this last time, but a week ago Thursday we went to East Robertson's award night. Jenna got several awards for academic achievement and Ben was named Seventh Grade Boy of the Year. They both made us very proud.

PACKING. We made a quick trip to Georgia for Cameron's graduation last weekend. The kids got out of school early so we could get there at a reasonable hour. As we were packing Vicki asked Nate to throw the dirty clothes down the stairs. A moment or two later we heard Nate say, "Bon voyage!" and then some clothes hit the floor.

This happened two or three more times until Jenna hollered up to him, "Um, Nate, I think you mean 'Bomb's away!'"

He didn't quite follow her advice and said, "Look out below!" instead.

THE MIRACLE OF MODERN TECHNOLOGY. East Robertson's graduation was Friday evening. We happened to be driving through Atlanta at the time. No worries. The ceremony was being streamed live on the Internet. We turned my phone's hot spot on and took it in via Jenna's iPad, even piping the audio through the van's speakers.

What was so funny about all of this was that while the graduates were filing into the gym a friend of ours was visible in the background so we start texting her, even making fun of her chewing her gum and sending her a picture of herself on the iPad. She got pretty tickled.

HOME SCHOOL GRADUATION. Cameron's graduation was Saturday afternoon. There were six graduates recognized in his ceremony. It was really neat because they had time to give a brief bio with a slide show for each one. It was a very special time. Cameron plans to pursue criminal justice in college.

COOTIES. Normally when we visit the Jones family Vicki and I get the guest bedroom. This time Darice's mom and step dad were in so Vicki and I displaced Emily and Jenna who got to sleep downstairs.

Emily was a little uncomfortable with me sleeping in her bedroom and insisted that I sleep in the trundle bed. She even put Spider-Man sheets on the trundle for me and polka dot sheets on her bed for Vicki. Of course, I told her I loved polka dot sheets and even liked to connect the dots when I have insomnia.

Well, this went back and forth all weekend and in the end I decided to stop at the store and buy a couple of packages of rubber bands. Before I left I had put rubber bands all over her room and bathroom--every drawer pull, every trophy, around every picture, every light fixture. I'm thinking she'll be finding rubber bands for weeks to come. I told her she would need to disinfect every place she finds a rubber band because my cooties would be there.

DINNER CHOICES. Speaking of the miracles of modern technology, on the way home we decided to eat supper in Murfreesboro. Vicki started checking her phone for top rated restaurants after we drove past Manchester. The Donut Palace was among the top choices in the list which was exactly where Nate wanted to eat. We all laughed and he was offended because he was dead serious.

SPEAKING OF WHEELS. Nate has learned to ride a bike! Ben taught him. He never picked it up when I tried to teach him. Now he rides all over the yard.

It’s funny how a bike was indispensable for me at an early age. I think I got my first bike when I was in the first grade. Brian, Steve, Brent, and I rode our bikes all over the community. One generation later bikes are of much lesser importance.

Joe

A New Set of Wheels

I have thoroughly enjoyed driving past the fields of canola again this spring. This is a relatively new crop to Robertson County and when it blooms it stays in bloom for almost three weeks. One farmer between here and Springfield is raising it. His fields have been solid yellow since late April and they practically glow in the morning sun.

JENNA’S GOT WHEELS! Yesterday we purchased a new (to us) 2003 Nissan Murano for Jenna. It’s gold in color and features the full trim package. Jenna wanted to get an SUV and this fits the bill nicely. Nate was astounded that the car was manufactured four months before he was born and said, “It looks practically brand new!” And since you’re probably wondering, the car does have 145,000 miles on it. It’s CARFAX report was clean and showed regular maintenance.  Given everything available within our budget this was by far the best car, and we were even able to purchase a 5 year/100,000 mile power train warranty in that budget. Vicki is so envious she has threatened to take the Murano and make Jenna drive the van.

As of tomorrow my days of putting the kids on the bus are over. I told Jenna that next fall they’ll need to stop by Kenny’s and line up walnuts for Alice to run over in the bus for old time’s sake.

A WOMAN OBSESSED. A side benefit to getting the car is that I get my wife back and Vicki gets her life back. I’ll have to give Vicki all the credit for the car shopping and she has been a woman obsessed (or should I say possessed?). When we looked at our family schedule for the next several months we knew Jenna would need a car to fulfill all the obligations she plans to take on this summer as we would not be able to get her everywhere she would need to be. We also knew that given my work schedule and Vicki’s summer schedule if we didn’t get the car before Memorial Day we might not be able to get one before Labor Day. So, this has consumed Vicki for about two weeks now.

None of us at our house were at all surprised at how Vicki devoted herself to this task. She did this for the last two vans we bought and for my truck. Vicki has always utilized the Internet in her shopping but this time we commented what a difference a smart phone made in her search. For one thing she has gone farther afield than ever before looking at cars from Russellville, Kentucky, to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, where we purchased Jenna’s Murano. Of course, now that most car shoppers are shopping online cars don’t stay on the lot long at all so if you think it’s the car for you you’d better act fast. Then too, texting has sped up the communication with the sale people.

At any rate, now that Mom is doing well at home, even staying by herself once again, and Jenna has a car, maybe we can see normal again for a few weeks before the summer schedule hits.

GOODBYE MAGGIE. No, Maggie didn’t meet her end on the highway. We had to find her a new home and we sure do miss her.

Maggie has a wandering spirit and our schedule only made her a lonely dog. Maggie discovered all the houses over a half mile away at the intersection of the highway and Roy Cole Road. One of our neighbors there has a large building where kids come for batting and pitching lessons. Once Maggie found all the kids there willing to give her some attention she would hardly stay home during the day, though she knew to be home for supper. She’d leave even if we were outside doing things in the yard. The only thing I found that would keep her home was a cable hooked to her collar and she really worked to chew through that. In the end we knew we needed to find Maggie a new home.

To make a long story short, last weekend we took her to Alice Keith’s sister where they have a lonely dog, Betty, in a large, fenced backyard. The two dogs seem to have hit it off so they have become her new family. I miss her and every time I walk out the door I think, “Maggie, why couldn’t you have been a home body?”

PURPLE MARTINS. A few weeks ago purple martins came up in conversation around the house and Nate started asking about them. I recalled a time when I mowed the field beside the house several years ago and that I really enjoyed watching the martins as they flew all around catching bugs. Nate was fascinated.

We have some martins that have made their home in the red house and one evening when Nate and I came home three of them were flying all around the back yard. Again, Nate was fascinated, but I had to laugh because he kept ducking when the birds flew near. I finally persuaded him to stand perfectly still out in the open and just watch the birds. He said, “What if they hit me?” and I assured him they were much better pilots than that. Fifteen minutes later he came in full of excitement talking about how close the birds would get as he stood there--quite literally within inches as they flew by at full speed.

A TRIBUTE IN STARCH. Mom and I were looking through pictures in a drawer when we ran across a snapshot I have wanted to locate for years. Aunt Mar used to wash and starch her kitchen curtains a couple of times a year. I would poke fun at her saying that they were stiff enough to stand up on their own. I even mentioned this in my eulogy at her funeral.

Well, one time when Aunt Mar had washed the curtains I helped her put the curtain rods back in and then stood the curtains up in the kitchen floor to see if my claim were true. And now I have found my photographic evidence that those curtains really would stand up on their own and even hold the curtain rod up in the air!

Joe

The Merry Month of May

I’m used to the security light outside shining into my window, but last night it was so dark I thought at first that the light was out. I was mistaken. The trees have leafed out so much our window is now in their shade.

GETTING READY TO FLY.The fact that Jenna now has her driver’s license really hit home with me the other day. We had borrowed Mom’s car and Jenna and I were returning it. Jenna was driving the car and I was behind her in the truck  We were rounding the curve at the Roy Cole Road intersection when my mind caught up to what was going on. My thought stream went something like this...

In surprise, “Hey, that’s my daughter driving that car up there!”

In anxiety, “She’s driving that thing all by herself!”

And finally the voice of calm reason and reassurance, “And she doing a really good job too!”

Another thing that really struck me happened last Friday. Jenna got to drive to school because she participated in a job shadowing opportunity at NorthCrest Medical Center. She was to report directly to the hospital by 8:30 and got to tag along with a nurse for about three hours. She missed seeing a birth but did get to see a circumcision while there. (I told her I’d have passed out on that one.) When that was over she had a little time to grab lunch before she had to report to the one class she takes at Springfield High School.

Jenna had opted to pack her lunch rather than eat out (she’s putting all her money toward going to Haiti) so she and I had a lunch date. She came by the office and picked me up and we drove over to Garner Street Park to eat. We had a good time talking and even reminisced about the birthday party she had at that park when she turned five. (This was the party with the indestructible piñata.)

Jenna dropped me off at the office and as she drove off it dawned on me that the time truly is short. She’s applying for an internship at NorthCrest this summer to have more exposure to the career she plans to pursue. And in just two short years her high school career will be over. She’s not a little girl any more, but she’s a young woman I’m really proud of.

MAN YOUR BATTLESHIPS! The boys (and us by extension) have had a busy two weeks with Scouts. For one thing, they put in some time helping a fellow Scout on his Eagle Scout project. On top of that, the competition for the Spring Camporee required the troop to make cardboard boats. Our troop built two boats, a canoe that carried three boys and a barge that carried eight. This project required several work nights so we were back and forth to one guy’s shop quite a bit.

A funny thing happened one day on one of these trips to work on the boats. We were on a back road when we were meeting a car and an adult turkey hen was standing right on the shoulder of the road. I slowed down to 25 or 30 mph, but right when we got to the turkey she took off and flew over the truck rather than turn and run away from the road. She was so close to hitting the windshield that Ben was already diving for cover. Her wing grazed the truck as we passed and she must have hit the antenna because it is bent just a little (that had to hurt). The boys also noticed a fox in the ditch that must have been stalking the bird. If she’d have just been a little slower I might have had fresh turkey for dinner!

Back to the boats, our troop decorated theirs as naval vessels. Other troops had Viking ships and pirate ships. The camporee was held at Latimer reservation near Fall Creek Falls this past weekend. Our troop won first place for speed, and third for aesthetics. I didn’t get to go with the boys, but they came back sunburned, smelling like smoke, and telling about good times.

IMPROVEMENT. Mom is continuing to get better. She’s not driving, but we are getting her out a lot. She hasn’t missed a church service or hair appointment and the church service weekend before last was held at Kilgore Park.

Joe

Sweet Sixteen

Easter has come and gone. We hope yours has been as good as ours. We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day.

HOME AT LAST! Mom came home last Tuesday after 22 days. She is doing very well and happy to be sleeping in her own bed as well and having the freedom to get up and move around when she wants to.

We do feel very fortunate that Mom's stroke was no worse than it was. She is still wobbly and using a walker to walk, and she still tires easily. We are still making sure she has someone with her 24/7 even though she's having an easier time of it than she did last year after breaking her ankle.

Mom has been out twice since coming home: once to get her hair fixed and then yesterday to go to church.

SWEET SIXTEEN. Jenna's sixteenth birthday was Friday. Fortunately for her it was a holiday since it was Good Friday as well so she got to do exactly what she wanted to do which included setting out 200 strawberry plants in her garden.

Gardening wasn't all that Jenna wanted to do for her birthday. On Saturday she, Vicki, Mackenzie, Maegan, Michelle (Maegan's mom), and Katie all had a girls' night out on the town. They went to the Melting Pot, a fondue style restaurant in Nashville, did a little shopping, and then went to see Thorn, an Easter play, at Cornerstone Church and Madison. They said they had a lot of fun.

Unfortunately for Jenna the DMV was closed for Good Friday so she had to wait until today to take her driving test, but she has her license now!

NIGHTTIME SERENADE. Now that spring is here and birds are beginning to nest we have a mockingbird that is setting up house in the tree outside our bedroom window. This bird sings all night long and this fellow knows his stuff, however, he hasn’t picked up city sounds like his cousin on YouTube that mimics a car alarm. I am assuming this one is a male because the websites I’ve read say females don’t sing as much or as loudly this time of year. I don’t know if he’s looking for a mate or trying to make our yard seem full to protect his territory, but he gives me something to listen to when I wake up in the middle of the night.

Joe

Mowing Season

I cut grass for the first time this year on Saturday. My yard has needed it for about a week but between the rain and the schedule I am just now getting to it. Mom’s yard isn’t so bad off, but we do need to mulch the leaves that have fallen since November.

UPDATE ON MOM. Mom is still in the hospital but due to be discharged tomorrow. Her therapy seems to have gone well and she will continue that when she gets home. From what we have seen Mom has already regained the function and range of motion she lost, but not all the dexterity. She is doing most things on her own with little assistance required. She is able to walk with a walker. She can use a fork with her right hand and even sign her name, though her signature isn’t as good as it was before the stroke. We are trying to make sure she has people with her for the next few weeks like she did last year after breaking her ankle.

We anticipate Mom’s biggest hurdle will be fatigue. We simply don’t know to what extent that will affect her daily routine once she gets home and is allowed to do more for herself. I think by the time she gets up and gets ready for the day and then a therapist comes in to work with her she is going to be totally exhausted. At any rate, I know that after three full weeks in the hospital Mom is ready to come home.

A BUSY VICKI. Vicki has had an extremely full week, well, almost two weeks really. I briefly mentioned last time that Vicki was gone to a women’s retreat with a group from our church. She had a small role in organizing part of the event (I know I saw a chocolate fountain in our kitchen at one point) so she had more than just a casual commitment. She said they crammed the material intended for a six week study (Made to Crave by Lysa TurKeurst) into one weekend and that everyone seemed to enjoy it.

Vicki didn’t go anywhere this past weekend, however, our first ever “He Lives” celebration for kids was on the calendar for yesterday. This was a family event beginning after our second service with lunch and crafts. From there we had a storytelling time and the whole event ended with an Easter egg hunt. It was a success, but a whole lot to organize.

ASTRONOMY CAMPOUT. The Scouts have been working on their Astronomy merit badge. They had a guy come in and speak to them a couple of weeks ago and this past weekend’s campout was supposed to give them some hands on time with telescopes and time with knowledgable people who could point things out in the sky. Unfortunately the sky had other plans this weekend and the only celestial objects that could be seen were the sun and moon. The boys still had a lot of fun and came home so tired they slept most of the afternoon yesterday.

RAINBOW. The only rain we got all weekend was a brief squall that moved through late Friday evening. I told Vicki I didn’t envy the boys setting up camp. The rain also brought with it the most spectacular light show. The clouds were clearing off in the west as the sun was setting creating a glorious sunset. And to the east, where it was still raining, could be seen the largest, almost perfect double rainbow. The effect from the bows was so brilliant the area inside the bows glowed while the sky outside the bows was considerably darker. I’ve seen beautiful rainbows before, but this was probably a once in a lifetime sight.

Joe

Busy Times

I don’t mind saying that we are coming and going so much we don’t know what direction we’re heading. Take last weekend as an example, Vicki was away on a Women’s Retreat with a group from church, Jenna spent Friday night with friends, the boys were committed to help someone with their Eagle Scout project, and Mom developed a really bad cough.

UPDATE ON MOM. Mom is still in the hospital receiving therapy. I think she is making progress but it is slow. She wears out more easily now. I am still optimistic that she will regain most of what the stroke has affected but it will probably take much longer than any of us have anticipated. I think fatigue will be a real factor in the speed of her recovery.

I do want to say that she really appreciates all the prayers on her behalf as well as the calls and cards. That’s what is keeping her spirits up.

As far as Mom’s stay in the hospital goes, we have met some of the nicest, most caring nurses and doctors. They have really been wonderful to work with, especially the nurse and doctor that got on top of that bad cough Mom developed over the weekend. However, I don’t think Mom will be writing a thank you note to the hospital chef this time as she has been known to do in the past. (To be fair, the food hasn’t been bad. Her diet has been restricted to things that are easy to swallow as a precaution.)

APRIL FOOLS. We didn’t have too much in the way of April foolery at our house this year. Mom’s being in the hospital had me preoccupied although I did have an opportunity to get our secretary at the office that I couldn’t pass up.

Kenny, too, tried to get us by saying they had put police tape up all around where we park for the bus. Everyone knew the date and was on their guard when they heard him call.

The best joke of the day belongs to Ben. He replaced the filling in one of Vicki’s Oreo cookies with toothpaste. She chewed on that cookie for several seconds thinking it was a mint filling cookie placed in the bag before she finally realized it was toothpaste.

CHECKING UNDER THE HOOD. I had an appointment with my doctor one day last week. When Nate heard I was going to the doctor he asked what I was sick with.

“Nothing,” I replied, “It’s a regular checkup.”

“Why would you want to go to the doctor if you’re not sick?”

“Well,” I explained, “sometimes you just need the doctor to keep an eye on things. It’s good to have someone check under the hood every now and then.”

Nate was taken aback. “Well, I like my hood covered!”

COINED A NEW WORD. We bought a two seat papasan for the boys’ room last year. They have placed it in front of their Wii. Granted, a papasan is not a standard piece of furniture in most people’s homes so the word can be hard to recall. I got a chuckle this morning when Ben wanted Nate to bring something downstairs and told him to look on the “tufon.” Tufon (not futon, and definitely not papasan) probably has the best chance of sticking in their minds.

Joe

One Never Knows What Lies Ahead

When I wrote last we had no idea life would get crazy Tuesday morning. Mom has had a light stroke. Her right arm and leg have been mildly affected. Her speech and clarity of thought are fine. Here’s how it all happened.

We put the kids on the school bus in front of Kenny’s house. Mom likes to watch us from her bedroom window. Tuesday morning she got up a little after 7:00 and went to the bathroom--twice. All this happened on the second trip to the bathroom.

Mom usually takes hold of the bed post to steady herself as she walks by. This time she couldn’t make her right arm work well enough to do that. Thinking it odd she continued on to the bathroom. At the bathroom door she felt her legs were getting weak so she hurried to the toilet. Once there she realized she needed to call for help so she pushed her lifeline button. The lifeline service called our house right as the kids and I were walking out to go to the bus shop. I went straight to Mom’s. Vicki got the kids on the bus and followed. The ambulance was just a few moments behind her. When I found Mom she was very cognizant and coherent. Her inability to do much with her right arm was the biggest thing we noticed.

Mom was taken straight away to Skyline Medical Center where she has been responding well to treatment. She was moved to their rehab floor last night and begins therapy in earnest today. We feel the damage from the stroke is minimal and I am optimistic that she will be able to regain her motor skills well enough to live independently once again. It’s just going to take time to get there which will be frustrating for her. Her spirits have remained good all this week though.

We appreciate your keeping her in your prayers.

Joe

Farewell Winter

Spring is here so I suppose it is time to say farewell to winter--not that it’s going to feel like it over the next few days.

BUSINESS TRIP. I consider myself very fortunate that my job does not require me to travel so that I get to be a regular part of my children’s lives; however, I did get the opportunity to take a business trip to Orlando the week before last (March 9-13). This is big for me. Until this trip the only times I had ever traveled outside of Robertson County were for conferences and meetings in Gallatin, Lebanon, Murfreesboro, and Nashville--oh, and once to visit a colleague in Cookeville.

My travels took me to one of the Hiltons on Disney World property (Bonnet Creek) where I attended a conference that offered all sorts of training for software I use at work. Suffice it to say that I feel like I’ve done a grad school course in four days. It was intense. I did get to enjoy one evening at Downtown Disney and another with being treated to dinner at Chevy’s (a Mexican restaurant) with Aunt Linda, Uncle Bob, Jim, Dianna, Alex, and Chris.

One funny story from my trip happened when I was in line to board my plane home at the Orlando Airport. The lady standing beside me looked at the carry on bag by my feet and said, “I just have to know, are you traveling with a dog or a cat?” Everyone in line got a good laugh at my reply when I said, “Neither--dirty clothes.”

GETTING THINGS DONE. I got home from Orlando late Thursday night (the 13th). Spring break began for us when school let out the next day. Vicki and the kids took off for Georgia early Monday morning where they had fun with the Jones family. They came home this past Thursday (the 20th). I spent the week here at home knocking out a big to do list. It has been both relaxing and productive and I am glad to have a break in the schedule to get some things done. I was also glad to see my family get back home.

Speaking of getting things done, yesterday Vicki and I decided to tackle one of our storage rooms upstairs. What we really need is something like the Room of Requirement as it appears in the Harry Potter universe when the various characters need to hide something. Unfortunately we Muggles live in the reality where the insides of our rooms are limited by the space that contains them. We put in several hours trimming down and cleaning things out. (Jim, I did find a ticket where you and I went to Disney World on March 17, 1986. This was probably my first visit to Epcot. Remember the belly dancer?)

GROWING UP. There’s a picture I’m looking at as I type this. It was taken one Father’s Day when Jenna was two or three. Seems like yesterday. She’s growing up. Friday Jenna and I went to the bank to open a checking account for her.

Another big step Friday was the cell phone. Jenna has had a cell phone in the past but it was nothing fancy or with a contract. She decided not to keep it given the poor reception it had here at the house. (One almost had to stand on one leg with an arm in the air on top of the picnic table to use it.) Jenna is probably the last of her friends to get a smart phone but we had told her not before she turned 16. Well, her 16th birthday is on the horizon and with a special deal allowing Vicki to add another line to her contract cheaply before the end of the month we said, “close enough.” Jenna has a used iPhone.

FUN AT THE MOVIES. In all this coming and going we did get the chance to have a little family fun. Friday afternoon we all went out to run a few errands. We met Michelle and her daughter, Maegan, for an early supper and then went to the movies. All the girls went to see Divergent while the boys took in Mr. Peabody and Sherman. I don’t recall seeing Mr. Peabody much as a kid but I thought the movie was cute.

Joe