My Life

Hubby checks his game cam under an acorn laden oak tree.

We get to witness wonders that we might never see.  This eight point White Tail buck is marking the tree and his territory by rising on his hind legs and spreading his scent in the over hanging limbs.

Here I have captured another male making points by recovering a tree stump that I think is vital to my existence. It had to be a tractor operation.

With me being recently and continually sick this wise male has quietly tried to help around the house. Quietly because he knows I will drag off the couch and protest.  He knows it's bad when I'm not doing laundry and dishes!  Other facets of my "womanly" duties may suffer but dishes and laundry is like breathing...if you're not doing it, you're pretty close to death.  You know, don't you?

I could not fault the stove deep with bacon grease nor the unwashed skillets because there were dishes washed and meals cooked WITH OUT me!  I was served meals lovingly in my sick room if I ate at all and was checked on quite often to see if I was still breathing.

He didn't know I watched as he struggled to fold a towel!  I was proud.  Maybe, just maybe he could survive without me if he had to do so.  His towels may fall off the shelf and the knives may be in the wrong drawer but he gets an A+ for effort.

 I am beginning to think all those years ago when hormones told me HE was the right life mate for me that maybe my brain was in on the decision too.  I know my heart was.

Thank you, honey.  I think you're a keeper.

Been Sick, Didn't Die

I coughed my soul out
cleaned it
and swallowed it again

More than a sickness
like a cleansing
or an exorcism

All not good was forced out
with such magnitude
i could barely breath

Days passed
battle worn and weary
I slept

Winning one battle
of life
but not the war

I know, I'm a drama queen!  I'm back!

Thanks for all the kind words and well wishes while I was "under the weather".

Sometimes Nice Things Happen...

On those days when the entire household including guests have fallen ill, not from my cooking, but just with pure luck and you have to be the nice one.  On those days when you've told you're grouchy because you are sick too but no one notices that.  On those days when you feel your heart is frozen and you will strangle those wonderful farm dogs if they bark at one more invading varmint when all you want is peace and quiet.  Being sick is an alone thing for me.

I have the normal aches and pains like any farmer does.  A new pain for each accomplishment but you deal. Those aches and pains remind you of the job completed...one more time.  Sometimes I'm sick.  I am officially sick because I have been to the DOCTOR and he says I'm sick...but I'm still grouchy.

I see my grandsons lined up with a goal in common although it may be a video game, they are sharing with their tousled bed head hair and their innocent faces bonding as only cousins and brothers can bond.   I begin to soften a little...just a small crack in that frozen heart of mine...but I'm grouchy because I have been told I am..

Oh top of all that, because I'm grouchy today...I was told  I was.  I escape and see flowers in winter and they aren't grouchy at all.  They are celebrating the sun and the rain and their ability to make the best of a situation.

On a day when I want to be completely grouchy and alone, I receive a wonderful surprise that cracks the ice in my selfish heart.  I hear it cracking.  The sun, the flowers, the children and the award are doing what no doctor can do.  (He told me I was grouchy, too)

Along come McGuffy Ann at McGuffy's Reader and hands me an undeserved award!  Ice has completely turned to water...my heart is unfrozen.

I'm thawed but I'm still grouchy...I've been told that I am.  There are rules...I'm terrible with rules except for the ones I make up.  I have five questions to answer, an award to show and am to pass this wonderful award to well-deserving bloggers.  Bloggers who hopefully have NOT been told they are grouchy today.

1.  If you could change one thing what would you change?

I would change my grouchiness and replace it with the wonderful attitude of the wild flower.

2,  If you could repeat a year, which year would it be?

I would not repeat any years but rather use the knowledge gained in those years to improve my years ahead.

3. What is one thing that really scares you?

The fact that I have been told I am grouchy.

4.  What is the one dream you have not completed, and do you think you can complete it?

My dreams change daily. I once dreamed of horses and riding, didn't happen.  I dreamed of writing a book, didn't happen.  I dreamed I was a cloud, didn't happen.  The nice thing about dreaming is they can always change and the next one might come true.

5. If you could be someone else for a day, who would you be?

Well, it would take more than a day but I would like to be THE President and straighten the mess out that this great nation is in now. My first act would be to wave my salary and perks for my entire term in office as a gesture to all those in power to know we have to start at the top. I would be willing to sacrifice my comfort for the returning health of our nation with hope that many would follow my example.

But don't listen to me.  I am grouchy today.

Now, I get to bend the rules.  There are many who deserve this award far more than me.   I list you all, my friends.  I follow many amazing blogs that are Real, Energizing, Amazing, Lovely, Inspiring, Touching and Yippee! and None of you are grouchy today.

Enjoy your Award.

OMG, I Missed A Post!!!

How many times has that happened???  Once..yesterday!  I'm not sure what hit me, maybe just a patch of laziness but I slept a lot,  hurt a lot and...disgusting...pooped a lot. Maybe that refrigerator coolant I breathed was poison, after all.  DON'T STOP READING, IT GETS BETTER, I PROMISE!  I left the house one time to buy groceries.  Hubby and Grandson helped haul them in and I put them away.  That was my entire day's accomplishments...that, and a tv overload of American Pickers as I lazed on the couch.

I missed Andrew's encore performance at the Music of the Mountains theatre.  Apparently, I missed a lot but Andrew was not upset at all.  He jammed with the Melodie Clemmons band before the performance.  A group of cheer leaders became his groupies and he was as happy as a pig in a mud hole.

Shown here is a page from Avenues, A Magazine of the Ozarks, about Andrew's first performance.  And I quote, "Andrew Williams, the 14-year-old blues guitarist who won Melbourne's Student Talent contest, played a couple of blazing numbers.  It was his first time to ever play with a band, but he came through like an experienced pro."  First time, he played AC/DC and a blues number.  Second, he played one of his own songs and, of course, AC/DC.

Since this performance, he has played a birthday party as a gift, won the Izard County Fair Talent Show in his division, has been invited to play at a local customer appreciation day, and to compete in a Hardy, Arkansas Talent contest...when he's not playing football and going to school.

My middle grand son, Jake, has been gifted a horse he has named Johnny.  I have promised to come see Johnny and so I shall today.  I am sure I will have many pictures to share after that visit!

I am thinking, what have I missed telling?  The ice maker's still working, to hubby's and to all our delight.  We are uptown now...no more dumping ice trays.  No more trying to find out who did not fill them!  I may be loosing my mind because many things happen around here that no one lays claim to doing.  I guess, I must be doing it in my sleep...right!

We got some glorious rain last night.  As the thunder rumbled and the lightning flashed, I realized why every bone in my body was aching...I can tell the weather now, and for that I am grateful.  Might as well be, not a whole lot I can do to change it.

It has been a joy catching up on all my comments.  Thank you and remember if you would like to converse, leave your email, I can not reply to No Reply Comment Blogger...and I do like to reply!  Have a wonderful Sunday.

Should've Bought Stock In Charmin

I have the crud with a capital C!  Still have it, don't see it leaving soon.  It is having a wonderful time visiting with me.  Been two weeks now and can't get it to go home.

I have gone through enough rolls of Charmin that I should have bought stock.  If any of you have stock in that wonderful company, look for it to sky rocket.  I am buying the super big rolls and my nose loves it.  So soft, so squeezable, so absorbant.

Yes, I use Charmin to blow my nose!  Cheaper and I can roll out as much as I need!  Much, much better than John Wayne toilet paper...rough, tough and won't take s--- off anybody!

I believe I am improving a bit.  Today I have the voice of a pre-teen boy, varying in squeaks and deepness.  I had to communicate with my hearing impaired (notice my political correctness) customers with sign language because I can not talk loud enough to be heard by all.

I guess we have to be sick some time to appreciate how good we feel the rest of the time.

Two weeks and I am on the down side of this.  Don't despair, there will be plenty of Charmin to go around.  I heard they have upped the production just for me.

Finally Went To The Doctor...

I have sinusitis and acute bronchitis, I am glad it is a cute one, I could never have handled an ugly one! Doc advised a shot but I talked her out of it. I have pills but they are not doing their miracle work yet.
I begged off the football game today. I getta coughing and I could fall off the bleachers. Last night game my coughing drowned the announcer. I'm sure everyone thought I was contagious cause I noticed they steered clear of the coughing woman.
Which was fine with me, I couldn't talk anyway. I'm not sleeping. I look like a raccoon, my circles are so big. Maybe I should have gone to the doctor the first week I was sick, instead of the third week. I'll be better soon, have to!

Ambitious...NOT!

I always have such ambitious plans for a day at home. The thing about plans is they do change. I had visions of having all my inside work done by this time and heading outside to enjoy this wonderful weather. Well...it hasn't panned out.
Since Den, my husband, has been home sick, dishes were sky high. I worked on them last night until my hands were so wrinkled lotion would not soak in. It looks like all I did was switch the piles of dishes from one side of the sink to the other. I have a dishwasher but with so many I just ran them through the sink instead. By the time I washed them I did not care whether they were put away or not so there they lay.
The laundry has grow by the foot. (Did you ever notice how the house piles up when you are away?) The cries of no underwear made me start laundry but my husband can hear the washer from his recliner so that was a no go.
I have a wonderful loving helpful husband, don't get me wrong. We have been married for thirty-six years...through sickness and health. He is a lot nicer in health, believe me!
I am sick too but have you noticed the woman does not stop? I long for the time I am sick and someone notices. My mom always said not to complain, I made him this way.
Den is still sleeping so I had better get that underwear clean!