Cowboys and Angels

I've had a very special person on my mind more than usual this past week.... 

(Photo courtesy of Luke & Cat @ ourlittleranchphotography.com)

David's Dad and mine both passed away before we were married so my kids have never actually had a grandpa in their lives. They were both wonderful and memorable men and I've often regretted my children didn't get to know them.  However, the good Lord has such a wonderful way of filling the gaps in our lives with special people and special experiences, greater than we could ever hope for or understand. 

I was very close to my own Grandfather and he was a big influence on me.  There is undoubtedly something very, very special about a grandfatherly relationship.  Maybe because when we're young we will listen to advice from grandparents we won't heed from our own parents.  Maybe its because they have a little more time on their hands to spend with us and just make us feel special.  Maybe its because through the filter of age and experience, they'll just tell you like it is and cut through the crap in a clear and refreshing way.   For these reasons and many more, a grandparent plays a special role in shaping us as we grow.

A very special man passed away this weekend who was as close to a grandfather as DJ had in his life.  He was a man's man.  A tough guy.  A hard worker.  An old fashioned cowboy.  A master hunter and fisherman.  A person of strong values and great character.  A great storyteller with an amazing sense of humor.  A good husband and family man who drew others in and made them feel part of his family.  A person of incredible heart.  A true one of a kind!

Not only will he live on in the lives of his wonderful loving family, but he will live on in the hearts of DJ and the other boys he touched so deeply.  Those nights around the campfire after a day of deer hunting, those talks and laughs while riding in the truck on endless chores, and those many meals shared did more than pass the time and nourish the boys bodies.  It nourished their souls and shaped their character in many ways.   Ways that I as a mother could never accomplish.  Ways that I am so very greatful for.

I am grateful beyond words for Mr. Andrew who so beautifully left his print on DJ's life.  May he receive a great reward in heaven for the love he showed here on earth!

Conversations While Coloring

One more great thing about fall?  I got my Bible school kiddos back!!   I usually teach a Wednesday night Bible class during the school year but have the summer off (when classes run on a different schedule).  I just LOVE my Bible class kids!  No matter how crummy a day I could have had or how tired I am, they always make me laugh.  Out of all the ages I've taught over the years, this is easily my favorite - that beautiful childhood window after the "diaper changing and potty training" but before the "I know it all already" age.   I've had this particular group for a couple years.  They are absolute sweethearts and I think most of them have a real future in comedy?  Their take on life is amazing and you just never know what they will say.

Dillon's picture he colored

 

Last night I had 7 charming little ones, ages 4 to 7, and our lesson was about how Moses' mother hid him in a basket in the river where he was found by one of Pharoah's daughters and then raised as an Egyptian prince.  We generally have our story time and then the kids talk and visit as we're doing our coloring or craft activity that goes with the lesson.  Here is a quick glimpse into of some of the conversation as we colored our pictures:

Moses basket looks like a tanning bed.

Is the Princess wearing a bra?  (6 year old girl asking) Because my friend told me she was going to bring me a bra but she didn't.  That's a lie, right?

Does the Princess have hair like on "Tangled"?

I have ALL the Princess movies!

1st child:  Did Moses have horses when he was a Prince?  I wonder if he had horses.
2nd child:  Of course, but he didn't like do rodeo or nothing.
3rd child:  No silly, they did chariot races.
2nd child:  So did they have horse trailers?
1st child:  Duh!  They didn't have trucks.  They had to WALK everywhere.  (with big eye-roll)
2nd child:  No they didn't.  They rode their horses.  (with a big "Ah-Ha! I got you" expression)
3rd child:  Or camels.  Sometimes they rode camels.  And donkeys.  But they called them the bad "A" word.

Girl:  Did the princess have blond hair?
Me:  Well, I've never seen an Egyptian person with blonde hair, but you can color it any color you want.
Girl:  I think she should have blonde hair.
Boy:  Mine has green hair.
Me:  (glancing at his paper) Uhhh... yes she does.  In fact her whole self is green.  ??
Boy:  She's an alien Princess!

See what I mean??  And if you could just hear the tone of voice and see the facial expressions!  They are too funny!

Of course Dillon is in this class and I know they must be a riot on Sunday mornings too.  Every few weeks the Sunday morning teacher will flag me down and say "I've got a Dillon story for you!"  I'm always like thinking silently... oh no, what did he say this time?  This fine Christian lady has probably heard it all in her 40+ years of teaching classes; I'm just glad she's kept her sense of humor!   So she tells me that while they were studying about how God spoke to Samuel during the night in the temple and Samuel didn't realize it was God speaking to him, that Dillon breaks out with "I know!  I know! Maybe it was like he was a Ninja and sneaking around the temple!"  

Oh my!  We really need to work on supressing that instinct to say just about anything that pops into his brain.  Although I have to admit, he doesn't have a very good example in me?! 
=)  

Adventures with Pooh the Raccoon

This is the blog I mentioned in my posting about Bert earlier this week from a few years ago when Sue's pet raccoon came on vacation with us.  We had so much fun with her!  Hope you enjoy...   =)

Dillon and Pooh the Raccoon

Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam, and the deer and the teenagers play… or something like that, right? There is nothing like mixing a little 4-legged wildlife with some of the 2-legged variety for an interesting vacation, and our newest 4-legged camper provided lots of laughs and excitement this week.

First a little background info… About 7 years ago we were very fortunate to join in with a great group of friends (about 5-7 families) in what has become our “camping group”. It’s now somewhat of an extended family for all of us, who at least a few days every summer get to kick back and have fun together. We take turns with chores and cooking (and we eat like kings!) and we always camp near water. Over the years we’ve dipped our toes – and other body parts – in a myriad of Texas lakes and rivers and always have an absolute blast!

This year we wound up at one of our very favorite places in the entire world – Blue Roan Bend. Only 30 minutes from Wharton near Garwood, this beautiful game fenced property is home to cattle (of course, duh!) but also has trophy deer, buffalo, and all manner of assorted wild critters. There is a big deep lake with water so cool and clear you would swear you’re in the hill country, and an amazing “cabin” with all the comforts of home and more than twice the size of my house. Our only expenses are food and gas for the boat, so not only is it incredibly beautiful but practically free – which makes it even better.

Where the Buffalo roam... literally. 

I took this picture while waiting for them to get

out of the way so I could drive past. 

One thing’s for sure, our group is never short on laughs or excitement, but our newest 4-legged camper “Pooh” added a new twist this year. You see Pooh is a little rescued female raccoon Sue bottle fed since it was only 2 days old and she’s now very tame and lovable, with the mischievous and playful nature of a puppy. Pooh thinks Sue is her mommy and we of course all became her extended family as she roamed about the cabin this week. Well, maybe except for 2 campers (who shall remain anonymous) who it turns out have almost a near phobia of raccoons. We were proud of them though, and except for one leap across a table and one standing in a chair freaking out episode, we all cohabitated quite nicely. After some initial sorting out of who was boss, Pooh even managed to live peacefully with the two dogs - one wearing a doggie diaper, and the other winning a bet for being 83 years old… but those are stories for another day.

Pooh and her "Momma Sue"

Our most exciting event with Pooh was our first night there. Pooh had been very shy at first that evening, not used to the cabin and definitely not used to all the people and commotion. She had taken to mostly hiding behind furniture and peeking out to watch us with a curious expression. Well past midnight following a very long day we were finally ready to go to bed and searched the cabin top to bottom but could not find Pooh anywhere. It was as if she had disappeared into thin air. Actually Dillon had been calling her “Poof” all night like from the Fairly Odd Parents cartoon, and the name seemed to fit. The crazy raccoon was no where to be found!

Come to think of it, no one had seen Pooh for hours, since we had been feeding her little chunks of rice crispy treats which she loved but couldn’t figure out why they would stick to her hands. She would pick it up, eat a bite, then flick her hand with a hurried shake-shake-shake… until the piece would fly off, then pick it up again, take another bite, and repeat the whole process… hilarious!

"Look Mommy - This stuffed animal plays with me!"

(Aiden and Pooh were so cute together)

Anyway, we gave up the search fairly quickly, all too tired to worry about it for long, and figuring Pooh had probably found a hiding place and gone to sleep somewhere. Sue said “If she comes out during the night, just come get me and I’ll put her in her crate”. Yes, the raccoon has a crate just like a puppy. She also eats only expensive Iams cat food and already has an assortment of dresses and clothes. I’m not kidding - the raccoon came on vacation with luggage! And for those of you wondering, she is litter box trained for her Pooh-poo. =)

Ok, getting back to our story… We parents retired to our rooms and left the teenagers bunked in the living room to fend for themselves against the curious raccoon. I happened to be up about 2am taking Dillon to the bathroom which is a mommy-son two person job. The pitch black dark cabin can be a toe-stubbing nightmare to a grown-up, but is also full of curiosities and taxidermied things, and is all around unbelievably scary at night to a 5 year old, thus the mommy escort. So as we are warily navigating our way back to our room by cell-phone light, all heck breaks loose in the living room! We hear screaming and hollering and the sound of thundering footsteps headed straight for us, with flashlight beams zooming around like some bad 70’s disco.

“We found the coon! We found the coon!” Sue and I met up with the boys in the hallway and got the whole story. It seems once everyone had gone to bed and the cabin got quiet Pooh, being the nocturnal creature God made her to be, decided it was time to get out and play - only she was trapped. The kids heard this bumping and scratching coming from inside a big sofa table with drawers. When someone found a flashlight and worked up the nerve to open the top drawer, out popped Pooh the raccoon! I wish I could have been there to see it - the teens (all big tough guys except for Dollie) crouched around the drawer with a flashlight, probably thinking about every horror movie they had ever seen, screaming like little girls when Pooh sprang out of that drawer! Of course, they swear they were really cool about it.

Though we tried valiantly, we couldn’t get the raccoon surprise effect to work to our favor after that. The next morning when faced with sleepy teens laid out across the living room looking like a scene from Jonestown, even putting Pooh underneath the covers with DJ failed to get him out of bed. Also the next day we happened to see the bottom drawer of that sofa table mysteriously open on its own and figured out Pooh’s secret. She got under the table and scooted the drawer out from underneath, then used the passageway to get into the top drawer to hide. We remembered seeing the bottom drawer open the night before and closed it, therefore unknowingly cutting off her escape route and closing her up inside.

All in all, Pooh seemed to really enjoy her vacation and by Sunday was reveling in all the attention. In fact Pooh loved camping so much that when it was time to go home she took up residence behind the dishwasher and refused to leave until finally coaxed out with a snack and a colorful feather duster toy. I don’t blame her one bit; I wish I could have stayed longer too!

Pooh likes to stay very clean and had a bath every day.  Now if we

could just get all the kids to do the same?  =)

We had a wonderful few days together, had fun swimming and floating in the lake, riding on the boats and jet ski, fishing (including the boys catching a 30+? lb catfish), wakeboarding, kneeboarding, riding a crazy 3-person tube (which sent all of us “old people” on a stumbling search for Advil and Bengay the next morning - and yes, even my big fat butt rode the jet ski and insane tube), throwing washers, playing games, and just having a great time. But when you ask my kids what they remember about this week years down the road – no doubt it will be the adventures with Pooh the raccoon!

Wes go make Bert wok!

When we stopped by Sue's house yesterday and crossed the cattle guard into the yard, David exclaimed "Oh man, they have cattle out.  There's one in the yard!"  DJ and I just kind of laughed and said "Oh, that's just Bert.  They probably let him in there on purpose."    Sweet puppy-faced Bert, a huge ton of gray Brahman bull muscle, was happily munching the green grass alongside Sue's flower beds in their big shady yard.

Bert

Even out in the country, most people would think it strange to see this big guy ambling through the yard amid preschool toys, swimming pool, and carefully tended plants.  You would just have to know Sue.  And Bert.  Bert is quite a story actually. 

In addition to their own ranching and hay operations, Sue and her husband Charles run a full spectrum cattle service business.   Charles does everything from AI and palpation, flushing and embryo transfers, recips and calving, breaking and handling show cattle strings, and a myriad of other cattle related services.  Yes, I realize I may have just lost some of you there with the last sentence... just take my word for it, Charles is a local go-to-guy for all things related to cattle management and breeding.   He also boards cattle (cares for them at his ranch for a reasonable fee).   Bert came to their place as a boarder and led a pampered life well fed and cared for with his barn stall and small paddock all to himself per his owners specific instructions.    After a while living this pampered life, Bert became withdrawn and quit eating.  He just wasn't himself.  He went back and forth to the Vet without finding anything really wrong until finally he became so sick and weak all the opinions led to putting him down.  Everyone's opinion except Sue's of course.

For those who know Sue, you know she has a special touch with animals.  She will often be fostering some poor animal others would have written off.   She's bottle fed all manner of orphaned or injured baby calves, horses, dogs, cats, raccoons, rabbits, squirrels, birds, and goodness knows what else over the years.  At the moment Sue has a pet squirrel and pet raccoon she raised since they were newborn orphans.   (I have a funny old blog post about when the raccoon went on vacation with us several years back, I'll re-post it one day soon.)   In her yard you may see wild turkeys grazing around or beautiful peacocks she patiently hatched from eggs.  She takes the time for God's creatures that most folks won't.  She's just cool like that!

So anyway, Sue begged them to bring Bert home to their ranch one more time.  Sue babied him and cared for him.  She put him outside in the fresh air and green grass with other cattle to keep him company.   Several times a day they would go outside and just make him get up and walk around.   It got to where Kayla, Sue's adorable 2 year old little shadow, would climb up into her or Charles' lap, plant her little chubby hands on their chest with her face nose to nose with theirs and say "Wes go make Bert wok!"  It was her way of saying she wanted to go outside and play with Bert.   So they would go out in the pasture and make Bert "wok".  And you know what?  Pretty soon Bert perked right up, started eating and putting on weight, and acting like a young bull again.   Today he's the picture of health.

Kayla and Bert

So I guess Bert has become something of a big pet around the place.  Even amid all the champion show cattle around their ranch, Bert holds a most pampered spot.  Sue has worked harder than anyone else I know to keep her yard and flowerbeds watered and green during this summer's drought.   So when a yard full of green grass is an odd rarity and the ultimate bovine luxury... it came as no surprise to find Bert there grazing happily away. 

We could all take a lesson I guess that despite best intentions, being isolated and pampered in solitude is not always a good thing.  Sunshine, fresh air, green grass, and socializing can work wonders.   And we all need someone who loves us enough not to give up on us.  And who cares enough to make us get up and "wok".

   =)

Bert looking sharp in the Houston showring

Doing "The Wave" - Small Town Style

School will be starting next week and things will be settling down into the regular old routine again, including that morning trip to Newgulf to drop Dillon at school.  My city friends think its weird that I drive about 10 miles round trip just to drop him at school in the mornings (Ha!  They oughta talk to some of my friends that drive from Wharton and Hungerford twice a day!).    Moreover, they think its extremely weird that I actually ENJOY this drive every morning.   The ones who don't get it have just never lived in a small town.  They don't know about "wave and smile traffic".

Every morning you see pretty much the same friends on the road and everyone waves and smiles.  Over, and over, and over again.  Who can't help but get a good start on their day that way?  If you're still not in a good mood by then, just stop by Vette's or the store and get an actual howdy and hug from friends you're sure to find there.  I mean no matter how bad or hectic your morning started out, there's just no excuse to leave our little community without a smile on your face in the morning.  If all those waves and smiles don't make you grin, then honey you need to live somewhere else for a while so you appreciate them again.  They are special indeed.

I guess the wave is just a small town thing?   Of course it's not just a morning thing, anytime during daylight hours when you meet someone you know on the road, you wave.  It's just the polite thing to do.    Every kid secretly practices and perfects their wave when learning to drive.  Come one... admit it, you did it too at age 15 or so?  Its something of a coming of age ritual, every bit as important (and more frequently used than) parallel parking.  Theres a few basic categories of wave: hand on the wheel, hand off the wheel, left and right variations, and further refined by number of fingers used.  Theres the hand on the wheel pointer finger wave, usually accompanied with a head nod - "I'm too cool to really wave at you, but I acknowledge you" wave; the two finger vee/peace - "heyyy" wave; the whole hand - "hi there friend" wave; the thumb and forefinger (like an imaginary gun) wave; and scores of others.  I'm a four finger left hand on the wheel-er myself.  It's almost a "hi there friend" whole hand wave but since I usually have a heavily caffinated beverage in the other hand, gotta keep that thumb on the wheel.  You really don't want me actually IN your front seat with you, right?  haha    Rarely seen of course is the angry middle finger wave, and though its common in the city it tends to me much more scarce around these parts.  Perhaps because everyone here knows where you live?  And they might tell your Momma on you.  Or your Grandpa - yikes!  LOL

Maybe a true test of small town road hospitality is if you wave when a stranger waves at you?  Of course we've all waved by mistake at someone in a vehicle that looks exactly like a friends (at least you think it does coming at you at 70mph), only to have an embarassingly "oops" moment when its a stranger giving you a wack look.  There is a gentleman down the road from us with the same model and color truck as Dollie's.  Poor guy must think I have a crush on him or something... seems I'm always waving at him.  LOL   My husband will wave at absolutely anybody who waves at him, especially when he drove his white dually (a common truck in our area).  We'll be driving along and he exchanges waves and I'm like "who was that"?  He's all "No clue.  But they waved.".  Oooo kay!

So limber up those fingers and hands my friends; if you see me coming, you BETTER wave!  =)

School Daze... Minus the Craze

Tonight was "meet the teacher night" at Dillon's school.  This is one of several changes in our schools I'm really liking this year.  Instead of getting a letter in the mail to tell us who his teacher would be, they held this cool little meet and greet.  Nice!  They also gave us the gigantic yearly packet of forms to fill out AHEAD of time and actually, really, get this now... published school supply lists for junior high and high school on their website!  Pretty awesome, huh??

Of course leave it to our school to change things up just when I'd almost gotten used to the old way.  I mean, now they've jacked with one of the most holy traditions of back to school... the first day marathon.  Part contest of athletic prowess, part skill and experience, and heavy on endurance; if you survived that first day insanity as a parent, the rest of the year was pure gravy.  Our darn overachiever school people have gone and taken all the fun out of it. 

Our elementary school always publishes its school supply list WAY ahead of time but just to keep things interesting there was usually at least one item on the list that was nearly impossible to find.  Like something that you had to search dozens of stores for or order online?  Maybe that was a pass/fail test for Mommys... to see who REALLY shops ahead of time for these supply lists and who (like me, ahem...) waits until the week or so before school starts to round it all up.  A friend of mine has gone to unbelievable lengths to find white paper lunch sacks for her daughter's list this year.  One year not long ago, I was on the infamous 'red checking pencil' hunt.   Hello people... no one carries these any more!  I finally found a stash at some store in Houston and bought every package they had for the future, thinking I would be the best prepared smartest parent ever.  Yep, you guessed it... the next year they switched to red pens instead.   Ha!  This year our elementary even gave parents the option to purchase pre-packaged supplies.  Ahead of time.  Imagine that??

I of course passed on the pre-packaged supplies.  That would just be too easy.  Because I love the challenge.  And I would have withdrawls.  And I still have oodles of unused supplies in my school supply motherlode box (including a couple of new unopened packages of the red checking pencils, just lying there taunting me).  Most Moms I know have a supply motherlode.  Mine is in a big rubbermaid tub, mecca of all things relating to school supplies, usually purchased in bulk when on sale and/or carried over from previous years.  Need a compass or set of notecards at the last minute?  Check the box.  20 more packs of notepaper or a deluxe locker shelf?  Check the box.  It saved our bacon many times.  The box also comes in handy for recyling the supplies which you buy faithfully in August, only to see them come home with your child again in June unused.  No kidding, I still have the same 6 big pink erasers I purchased for Dillon in Kindergarten.  They went into his backpack this year again.  A big eraser?  Psssh... my child never makes mistakes. He's good like that.  Takes after his Momma.  And I've got a bridge to sell you...  LOL  More like he's too lazy to get his big eraser out and use it?

Unlike the elementary, in years past school supply lists for junior high and high school were not divulged until the first day of school.  I mean kept shushed.  Top Secret.  Total surprise.  And so ensued round one of Moms craziness.  When the bell rang after school, it was like the starting bell to the greatest scavenger hunt of the year.  Most of us bought the standard stuff like paper, dividers, map colors, etc. before hand.  But how are we to know that this particular teacher wants you to have three blue paper folders with brads, one yellow plastic folder with no brads, and a 2 inch purple binder with see-through cover and inner pockets.  Unique lists times 6-7 teachers times multiple children and the adventure begins....    I mean seriously, let's hope either WalMart or HEB happened to order a few 2 inch clear covered pocketed purple binders that happen to meet this teacher's specifications but if she told 22 kids in five different periods to get the same thing, ain't no chance the store ordered 100 of that item.  Whoever snoozes loses and has the pleasure of driving to the next town hunting for that item.

So the mad dash usually took us to both stores in Wharton where the aisles of course were clogged with your child's other 400 classmates and their parents, each person trying to squeeze through, inching their buggy over the mound of educational refuse scattered below, reaching over and around others like some sick game of Twister, all the while watching warily for that top shelf box of binders sure to come toppling down any second... people PLEASE.    This is where you abondoned your shopping buggy and split up the team for a coordinated attack... you go down this aisle and check for the folders, I'll go this way after the overpriced calculator, then circle back for the folders... we'll meet back here at precisely 1800 hours.  Remember now... dive through the legs, scale the shelves, be tough!  Ready... on three....  break! 

And let's don't even start on the choices available... boys are easy but my daughter on the other hand insisted on "cute" binders.  You seriously want me to pay four times as much because you like the trendy design on this binder?  (teenager rolls eyes with that "is she really stupid enough to ask that question?" look as she dumps a stack of them into your cart)

Eventually I wised up.  I had the kids call or text me their lists before I left work on the first day of school (yes, this is the REAL reason I allowed them cell phones in junior high) and I could shop in relative uncrowdedness at Office Max before heading home.  Yay me!  It only took me about 10 years to figure that out?

Once you got past the school supply mania, saw that your precious babies had scarfed down their fast food dinner since of course there is no way in heck you have time to cook, finished homework (collective ugh!), and had them showered and in bed by their newly reinforced bedtime... there were still mountains of paperwork to fill out for each child before you can collapse into bed past midnight.  I mean seriously, we've lived in the same house for 23 years - can the school not keep something on file with my address from last year?  Noooo, of course not.  We had to fill out name, address, contact info, and all matter of complete medical history no less than 10 times per child every single year.  The stack of parent paperwork was daunting indeed.  Actually, its a little known fact that first day of school paperwork is one of the leading causes for birth control.  If you've ever done this for two or three kids, can you imagine doing it for eight or ten?  I think my fingers would spasm beyond repair! 

Of course now our schools have gotten all smart this year by publishing the supply lists for each teacher in junior high and high school and decreased that mountain of forms too.  Go figure??  Look out though, now everyone might want to have 19 kids like that show on TLC.  Oh wait.  She homeschools.  Well don't that thought just about melt your brain or what???  Have I mentioned lately how thankful I am for public schools?  =)

So even if our overachieving administrators have taken the fun and adventure out of back to school for parents this year, I gotta love em.  Our local schools really are top rate, the heart of our community, and have the best staff you will find anywhere!  A big tip of the hat and good luck this year to all the wonderful teachers and school staff everywhere who keep things running smoothly.  I know it aint all twinkles and fairy dust... but they do an absolutely awesome job!! 

(And I hope Ms. Krenek, my 8th grade English teacher, never reads this because she'll fuss at me for saying "aint".  And she may make me diagram sentences again... eeeek!  Gotta love that good ole Boling education.) 
  

Sheneeda, Shirley, and Shrek

I was having a random conversation with my Mom tonight and she mentioned her power had blinked off.  "Even if I don't have the TV on or anything, I can always tell if the power blinks off because Shrek beeps",  she says.  It took me a second.  Whaaaat???  Then I remembered she has named her oxygen concentrator "Shrek".  Ooooh, okay Mom.  (Mom is on oxygen 24/7 due to health problems and while she's home this machine concentrates room air into pure oxygen which she breathes through one of those little tubes you wear under your nose.  When we leave the house she brings little oxygen bottles with her.  Just FYI, in case you don't have an oxygen concentrator in your realm of daily appliances LOL)  Anyway, I'm not sure where she came up with the name "Shrek", something to do with the soft wheezy sound it makes I think? 

But then again, Mom has always had the fascinating habit of naming random objects in her life.  Her eyesight has gotten so bad she can't drive anymore.  One of her favorite hobbies is to pass the time on her back steps or looking out the big window by her recliner and watch the birds, squirrels, and all manner of critters she feeds faithfully in her backyard every day.  You know that classic scene in Snow White where she's out singing and all the little birds fly up chirping and there's bunnies and squirrels and all the little woodland animals gather around?  Well, that's kind of like my Mom's backyard.  Only Mom doesn't sing, doesn't exactly look like Snow White, and... well...  there's just about no other similarity come to think of it.  LOL   But lots of birds and little creatures think her backyard is heaven.


They entertain her and she names some of them too.  I find it fascinating that this woman who can barely read the big E on the eye chart can tell the hummingbirds apart... oh, that little one there with the yellow on his breast is a bully... he chases the one with the white wing tips away.   Say what??   You're kidding me, right?  All I see is a blur!!  She has named her favorite and most frequent squirrel visitor "Shirley".  Shirley the squirrely.  Has a nice ring to it, don't ya think?  Anyway, so she can see colors on the hummingbirds flying at a million miles an hour but she can't see that ole Shirley is a boy?  I mean seriously... got a big ole boy part pretty obvious there when he sits and eats his corn.  Hello... Mom??  You realize Shirley isn't a girlie squirrely, right?    But then again at our house we have a girl pig named Steve, so who am I to talk.  SMH

Mom and Dad always had a habit of naming things, especially cars.  I think this started with Sheneeda.  Sheneeda was a 1950-something Chevy sedan, the first new car they bought after they got married.  I know about Sheneeda because apparently one day in the 1960's she made the trip to my Grandpa's farm at Round Top and then gave up the ghost, never to run again.  It sat peacefully under a tree by one of the barns until the property was sold in the 1990's.   You might think Sheneeda was some kind of unique ebonic name, perhaps years ahead of her time?  Well, not so much.  It was named thusly because She-need-another quart of oil, She-need-a new alternator, She-need-a new water pump....   seems she was always needing SOMETHING!  Hahahahaha 

In a way I guess naming things give them a life of their own?  So if my Mom wants to name her oxygen machine Shrek and the boy squirrel Shirley, who am I to say anything.  You gotta admit it is kind of creative.  Come to think of it maybe I should've named one of my kids "Mommacanihave".  Momma, can I have this?  Momma, can I have that?  Hmmm....  kinda has a nice ring to it.  LOL