My Other House

My other house where I have spent the majority of my waking hours has 3 floors, a basement, 9+ bathrooms, 37+ rooms, marble walls in the hallways, stairs, an elevator, and the entire top floor is an old jail.



In this house, my two daughters have grown from beautiful babies to beautiful women. I've seen them graduate from high school & college and I have been divorced, become a mother-in-law, remarried, become a step-mother and a grandmother while living here.



From an 18 year old mother to a 55 year old grandmother, these walls have been the one thing that hasn't changed. Oh, I have changed offices, but the solid walls have been a constant of my life. It has lots of history stored inside and a big majority of my history has been here. Sometimes I get tired of seeing it every day, but I really love this old courthouse!

Happy 8th!

Happy 8th Birthday Presley! Hope your day is full of sleep (after your slumber party) and giggles! We love you!

Happy 15th!

Happy 15th Birthday Tally! Hope your day is full of good times & driving practice! We love you!

Crazy Thoughts

The temperature yesterday was 107. While I was filling the pick-up with gas yesterday afternoon, I kept the door open to try to keep from melting. I noticed some flies (or so I thought) flying around. One of those silly things flew up my pants leg and when I tried to make it get out, it stung me. It wasn't a fly, but a little bee. I couldn't decide if I needed to stay in town awhile or try to drive home and get caught in the middle of nowhere with no phone service to call 911 if I had an allergic reaction. I'm crazy like that. All the way home, I thought if I get stopped for speeding I'll just tell them I was trying to get to the hospital before I died. As you can tell, I survived and didn't get stopped for speeding.

We woke up to rain this morning. I don't think it was much, but at least we got a little. It should help my poor balding okra.

Grounds for Divorce

We've been scanning old divorce records at work. It's depressing, but sometimes there is a little bit of humor to make me laugh.

When the state jail first opened we received many divorce petitions from the inmates. The usual wording for grounds of divorce is because of discord and conflict. This was the grounds on some of the petitions from the state jail:



If I were in jail, I know I would certainly be in discomfort.

New Vehicle

We bought a new pick-up a few weeks ago and it wasn't white. The last 4 vehicles we've owned were white. This one is maroon. Sonya & Joel will be proud of us. We look like big OU fans with our maroon and white pick-ups parked out front
.

Okra

Sometimes it takes a while for the light to turn on in my head. My okra plants were losing their leaves. Every day I watered them, but they kept going bald. The plants at the end of the row were still full of leaves and looking good. I still kept watering them thinking it would help. Finally the light came on...I was watering them too much. Now I have bald okra plants. On the bright side, it is much easier to see the okra that needs picking.

Sunday Signs

I don't know if this is a legitimate campaign sign, but it made me laugh!

Broken Mirror

I am a very superstitious person. I knock on wood, avoid black cats crossing my path, spit when I meet one-lighted cars, and a whole list of other crazy things. Coming home from work Thursday the inevitable happened. A buzzard flew into my passenger side mirror and broke it. All the way home I tried to think of an antidote for broken mirrors. I really don't need 7 years of bad luck at this time in my life.

When Behm came home I told him to be ready for 7 years of bad luck because of the broken mirror. This was his reply: "The buzzard will have 7 years bad luck, you didn't break it." I feel much better now, but I wouldn't want to be that poor buzzard!

Steeler

Around 3 weeks ago when Mia & Julian came to the house after staying with their other grandparents, I went outside to the garden. I kept hearing a cat crying. It kept getting closer and finally it ran under the house. I finally got it close enough to see it was a kitten. A sweet little gray & white kitten.

It would stay under the house until we would go sit on the front porch (to smoke) and then it would join us. It loved to play with cigarette butts, so I named it Smoky.



We kept the kitten for a week while Sandi was visiting Sonya. She took it home as a surprise to Sage. He immediately named it Steeler because it was steel gray.

Sage had been wanting a cat for a long time and planned on getting one soon. I knew both the cat and Sage would love each other and I was right!



From dark, spider web covered sleeping quarters to a soft bed with Sponge Bob sheets, this cat has hit the jackpot!



In my next life, I want to come back as a pampered house cat!

Happy 80th Birthday!

Today is my mother-in-law's 80th birthday! I've been blessed with a great mother-in-law who accepted me as part of her family from the first day we met. She is very active and I would be exhausted if I tried to follow her footsteps every day. Hope your day is full of smiles!

Worry

I'm a worrier. I worry about things happening that might be a million to one shot of ever happening, but I still worry about them. The roof of the courthouse falling in on me and snakes waiting to jump out of nowhere & bite me are just 2 of the many off-the-wall things I think about. I try not to worry, but I guess it's in my genes. I get it from my Daddy! I told him I was going to mow Sunday. Here is a list of things he told me:

1. Don't get your feet under the mower.
2. Look under the seat for a snake.
3. Don't get your hand under the mower.
4. Make sure it has gas & oil.

I had thought of 1,3, & 4, but not 2. I was just worried it might be sitting on the seat, never thought about it hiding under the seat! Thanks for the warning Daddy!

We both need to follow the advice of this sign I found at a garage sale.

Open Mouth Insert Foot

I'm normally a very quiet person. I don't like to talk much and when I do it's very short and to the point without a lot of details. The following story may be why I am this way.



A friend of mine, a woman, was walking in front of us with two large (quart size) drinking glasses. Of course, I opened my mouth and inserted foot when I said, "She sure has some big jugs!". I meant the glasses, but immediately realized the poor choice of words. My sentence started out like a sparkler, but ended up a big explosion of laughter.



I need to remember one of my favorite quotes more often:
"It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt."-- Mark Twain (1835-1910)

Stomping Good Time!

At the Joy Community Center on the 4th of July, everyone brings their fireworks and the fire department is there with trucks and firefighters to stop any fires that might get started. It has decreased the number of fires they had to respond to on the 4th.




These may be future firefighters! They loved stomping out the smoke bombs!

Where Am I?

Is this August in Texas? I don't remember the grass being so green this time of year. The only thing bad about it is having to mow the yard more!

Signs

As you drive along the roads there are lots of signs to see. Speed limits, street names, curves, and the glove on a fence post. The last ones are unclear in their meanings: dump gravel here, fix the leak there, and a whole list of other things to be done.



While moving hay, we hit a hole in the ground & I told Behm he needed to put a glove there to mark that spot. He said, "No, you put T-posts in holes". Now I have a new sign to look for while driving around.

Catch Up Time

Things have slowed down a bit now. I'm only picking okra, tomatoes, peppers, & squash (STILL!!). Yesterday was the first day I didn't have any squash to pick since it started making. I wish I had counted them to see just how many we made.



Grandkids have come and gone. Tally stayed 3 weeks & went to work with Behm everyday. She was a little camera shy on this day.



Mia, Sage, & Julian were here for a week. Not here, but at Sandi's but I got to spend some time with them.



I told these 3 to look serious, thinking they would do the opposite.



Presley spent one night with us before going to her other grandparents. Sorry no picture of you Pres!

In between all the grandkids and garden picking, we hauled hay. Lots of hay! I moved one bale & bent the bale spike. Luckily there were only three more to go.



It's been a busy summer, but maybe I can get back on the blogging track. It's funny how difficult it is to get my mind back in writing mode. So stay tuned & see if I improve or just get worse!