Changes I've made as I've grown older

1.  Blankets were once objects of crazy afternoons making out... now they're cherished objects to keep close even in sixty degree weather.

2.  Nap time were once the only time of the day I had to read or polish my nails ... now I'm the one taking them

3.  Back rubs once were a signal to get the kids to bed early now it is nightly routine rubbing in BenGay.

4.  Up all night once meant party time... now it only means up all night



5.  "I wish I could" once was the statement of future goals... dreams... now it is a daily prayer.

One down, three to go

Last night was Senior Prom night for my oldest granddaughter.  She's a great kid, no drinking... no drugs..and her friends are great too.  Okay Kyle... you're a good kid too... :)  Kyle is Jase's boyfriend.



But you know there was two big schools that had proms last night... lots of kids partying and Granny was worried.  She had fun and everyone made it home safe... YEAH!!

Happy Birthday to Lakey Pooh

My middle granddaughter is fifteen today.  Lakelynn is beautiful inside and out.  Loves horses, dogs, cats, ducks, chicks, get the picture.

Here are a few pictures

Dang it's cold

Most springs we're ready for rainy sixty degree weather and enjoy the warmer days sprinkled in... but this year even the trees thought warm weather was here to stay.  This weather should remind us that just because it looks like a duck and walks like a duck... it could be a hawk swooping down to kill those tomato plants you planted a month too early.  I'm bundled in a blanket with socks on .... I hate socks on my feet. 
My cheap, hot-blooded husband would not turn on the heat last night... got down to 41 but he reminded me it only got to 64 in the house and we were in bed covered up.... does that make sense to you??? I mean you have to get up sometime and you will be getting up to a 64 temperature.... all I've got the say is.... were are my sweat pants and sweat shirt
I did have a slight moment of protest.... when he got up... I always get up first.... I had a hat and gloves on making coffee.... this went with my winter robe, socks and a blanket draped over my shoulders... that is my Indian blood that loves to have my shoulders warm.  He didn't say a word, just grinned.

The pictures are Lakelynn with her new horse and his name is Saban.  Look they match... her hair and his coat. :)

2012 Kidlitosphere Progressive Poem

Okay, so Irene asked me if I was interested in doing this... I sort of bounce ideas off her and maybe this is payback??  I'm a fiction writer that writes really bad poetry.  My goal is that in two hundred years my poems be published in a book titled, "All the things you shouldn't do when writing poetry" or maybe my great great great ... oh heck you get the picture... grandchildren understand me and my life a little better by reading my poems. 

2012 KidLit Progressive Poem:  watch a poem grow day-by-day as it travels across the Kidlitosphere! April 1-30

If you are reading this
you must be hungry
Kick off your silver slippers
Come sit with us a spell

A hanky, here, now dry your tears
And fill your glass with wine
Now, pour. The parchment has secrets
Smells of a Moroccan market spill out.

You have come to the right place, just breathe in.
Honey, mint, cinnamon, sorrow. Now, breathe out
last week’s dreams. Take a wish from the jar.
Inside, deep inside, is the answer…

Unfold it, and let us riddle it together,

…Strains of a waltz. How do frozen fingers play?
How do fennel, ginger, saffron blend in the tagine?
Like broken strangers bound by time, they sisterdance…
their veils of sorrow encircle, embrace.

Feed your heart with waltzes and spices.
Feed your soul with wine and dreams.
Humble dust of coriander scents your feet, coaxing

seascapes, crystal sighs and moonshine from your melody

Beware of dangers along the path of truth

On to Miranda... hope I didn't mess you up too bad.

Schedule

1 Irene at Live Your Poem

2 Doraine at Dori Reads

3 Jeannine at View from a Window Seat

4 Robyn at Read, Write, Howl

5 Susan at Susan Taylor Brown

6 Mary Lee at A Year of Reading

7 Penny at A Penny and her Jots
8 Jone at Deo Writer

9 Gina at Swagger Writer's

10 Julie at The Drift Record

11 Kate at Book Aunt

12 Anastasia Suen at Booktalking

13 Tabatha at The Opposite of Indifference

14 Diane at Random Noodling

15 Ruth at There is No Such Thing as a Godforsaken Town

16 Natalie at Wading Through Words

17 Tara at A Teaching Life

18 Amy at The Poem Farm

19 Lori at Habitual Rhymer

20 Heidi at My Juicy Little Universe

21 Myra at Gathering Books

22 Pat at Writer on a Horse

23 Miranda at Miranda Paul Books

24 Linda at TeacherDance

25 Greg at Gotta Book

26 Renee at No Water River

27 Linda at Write Time
28 Caroline at Caroline by Line
29 Sheri at Sheri Doyle
30 Irene at Live Your Poem

Partly Cloud with a chance of Chicks

I'm going to pat myself on the back... I'm a very good Mama hen. All of the first babies are doing well and all 35 of the second batch are doing well and growing ... now for the third and finally batch... don't really know how many because they're hatching today and like any struggle for life event... sadly not all of the 90 eggs will hatch. Don't panic and think y'all will need to have a benefit to help me feed all these chicks. I'm only getting them over the hump when they need to be under a light and can't get chilled. I'm going to keep some of them but not all.

I enjoy watching these rather simple minded creatures grow and develop. Some are trusting, some curious and others are bullies. And the most interesting thing when you have mixed breeds... they change and look completely different when they're grown.

The bigger chicks are the ones hatched two weeks ago and are in the ugly stage.  The little ones, up top, were hatched Monday.  Look at their different colors.

Happy Birthday to my red-headed Grandson

This little fellow has had it rough all his life... mostly girl cousins... but he has always flowed with the currant.  He is funny, smart, curious and OCD about anything new... he has to work it , understand it, conquer it.  Not a bad thing for the person but sometimes a bad thing for the Granny.  You can hear me say, "Because." to him a lot.  He has out smarted me lately... "Lets look it up, Granny."  Oh to eat your own words can taste bitter.

This girl doesn't want flowers and such

Give me a new baby chicken coop and I'll be the happiest girl in the world.  Ronnie built this out of scrap material we had at the barn.  Might not look like much to y'all but to those chicks it's a Marriott compared to the cardboard box that they did call home.  Nope, it doesn't take much to make this girl happy.

Now I Understand

First let me say I love my grandchildren and love having them come to my house but... now I understand my Granny's words that hurt my heart over fifty years ago.

Here are my Granny's words:
"Life is not all fun and games and screaming at the top of your lungs doesn't make your words true.  When you get as old as I am, you'll understand that it is important to stop and be still so God and the Universe can teach you."

When I was nine, I looked at her and said, "What?"








Okay, let me paint the setting a little.  Sunday afternoon, about nine of the cousins at Granny's and I'm fighting with two of them.... "I touched the base!"   "No you didn't you're out"  "No, I'm not."

Yes you are
No I'm not
Did
Didn't
Now repeat this about sixty times
After sixty times... shove "Yes I did."
Shove back, "No, you didn'."
Shove harder, "Did"
Kick, then shove... "Didn't"

Granny steps in and breaks it up.... "Who started this?"

At the same time we point at each other and say,"She did."

Then came the speech.  Granny takes me to the side and whispers..."You don't have to win all the time and it's okay to miss a base sometimes."

When I was nine, I got mad and didnt' talk to Granny for oh... maybe a day... but the point is my nine year old mind thought she was saying I didn't touch the base... but what she was saying was ... when playing a game with family I shouldn't be in "Got to win mode" but be in "Lets have fun mode" 

Why are my grandbabies so much like nine year old ME????

I just can't help it!!! Baby Chicks make me happy

Got twenty baby chicks yesterday... just mixed... good sturdy county hens for mamas and crowing papas.

I really do like taking care of these little boogers.  Watch them grow and get feathers.

Perfect example of what can make you happy.  Now Ronnie doesn't like caring for the chicks... he would rather eat the egg than hatch it.

If a tree falls in the forest....

This picture "show-doesn't tell" how I feel a good bit of the time.  Wanda really does have a wonderful blog and you can check out her words of wisdom at:


http://wandastricklinrobertson.blogspot.com/2012/04/wordless-wednesday.html

Contest Alert!!!

The Alabama Writers' Conclave's annual contest will close soon.  Has everyone got their stories polished and sent, if not here are the guidelines.

ALABAMA WRITERS' CONCLAVE 2012 WRITING COMPETITION GUIDELINES

Deadline: April 20, 2012 (postmark).
Prizes: 1st: $100; 2nd: $75; 3rd: $50; 4th: $25 and up to 4 Honorable Mentions.
WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED at the AWC Conference Banquet at the Huntsville Marriott, Huntsville, Alabama on July 21, 2012.
Contest Rules: Entries must be original, unpublished, and must not have won a money prize in a previous AWC contest. (Sitting AWC voting Board Members are not eligible.) Multiple entries are accepted, but only one prize per person is awarded in each category.
Send one copy of each entry in standard manuscript format (double-spaced, one-inch margins, 12pt. Courier or Times Roman font). (Note: manuscripts are not returned, so applicants should retain a copy).
• On the first page of each manuscript include: (1) Title, (2) Category and (3) Word Count (DO NOT show author’s name on the manuscript).
  
• Please number the pages.
  
• Enclose a separate cover sheet for each piece submitted showing: (1) Contest category; (2) manuscript title; (3) your name, (4) mailing address, (5) e-mail address, (6) phone number and whether you are an (7) AWC Member or non-member. Entry Fees
  For all categories (EXCEPT Poem and First Chapter Novel)
  $5.00 per entry if AWC member, $8.00 per entry if non-member.
  For First Chapter Novel
  $10.00 if member, $12.00 if non-member.
  For All Poems
  $3.00 per poem if member, $5.00 if non-member.
  Make checks payable to: Alabama Writers' Conclave . (Note: Membership and conference fees must be submitted separately to the AWC Treasurer).
  Send contest entry manuscripts and checks to: Sonya Bennett, AWC Contest Chair, 81Magnolia Avenue, Fairhope, Alabama, 36532.
  NOTE: Please include a #10 SASE if you would like to receive a Winners' List after the AWC conference in July. If you would like confirmation that your entry has been received, also include a self-addressed stamped postcard (SASP).
  Writing Competition Categories
  Fiction - maximum 2500 words.
  Short Fiction - maximum 1000 words.
  Juvenile Fiction (stories for ages 4-12) - maximum 2500 words. LIST GENRE AND TARGETED AGE GROUP (i.e. picture book or 3 & up, etc.).
  Nonfiction - maximum 2500 words (PLEASE SPECIFY IF WRITTEN FOR ADULT OR CHILDREN).
  Humor (fiction, nonfiction, or poetry) - maximum 2000 words for prose or 50 lines for poems.
  Traditional Poem (any "form" poem, i.e. villanelle, sonnet, sestina) - maximum 40 lines.
  Free Verse Poem - maximum 60 lines.
  First Chapter of Novel - up to 10 double-spaced pages, first chapter ONLY.

Happy Birthday Jaselynn

One of the reasons I started a blog was to document important moments in my life and the other was to write my crazy voice so my grandchildren will remember the insane things that comes out of my brain.  Eighteen years ago I meet a incredible human that changed my life.  I love all my grandchildren but your first always has the special memories of "I'm a Granny" attached.

Happy Birthday sweet baby, I love ya and I'm very proud of the person you've become.  One little bit of advise... pick you paths of life carefully... the wide path is usually the most used.  It might seem the easiest but most people choose this path and it can get crowded.... the narrow path that twist and turns might be the one you need to watch your step but it will be the adventurous trip.  Which ever path you take, make it your own and follow your dream..... the saddest sentence in the English language is "I wish I had..."

I'm not crazy... people make me crazy

Have you ever had days you just wanted to kick a hornets nest, or run naked with scissors in front of your class reunion, or poke a rattler with a teaspoon.... well I know at least two people today who would have been better off to do those things.

Now really,  don't talk down to me or act better than me... I pull my jeans on every morning just like you and I have enough sense to back off when someone gives me that look. 

Okay... I was mean today... Ronnie says my tongue is sharper than his hunting knife.  One person should have known better because they know my blood letting verbal wit (not my description but from a close friend) and the other was the call center operator for Comcast...

I feel I could be in one of Direct TV's commercials. 

Had a problem with one of the HD boxes so I call.... after going though all the audible maze with a computer... I finally get a person. 

Can I have your phone number area code first, please?

I sigh... why do they make you go though all this before then ask you the same thing when you get a person... so I tell him.

Can I have your name, please?

Patricia Weaver.

Okay, and what relationship are you to the primary account holder?

Is my name not on the account as a person you can talk to about the account?  I ask.

Yes, I see your name on the account but I need to update the information for our records.  What relationship are you to the primary account holder?

Now people, these call centers are all over the world and really does Comcast need to know what kind of relationship Ronnie and I have... but I did answer....

I'm his whore.

Operator... "Excuse me...could you spell that.

Me... W-H-O-R-E 

A long pause... How can I help?

I got the problem fixed faster than I've ever have ... got that refresh of the box in record time.

After I hung up, Ronnie told me I had been nasty to that person.... poking at a rattler with  a teaspoon!!!

Oh my sunburnt neck and hurting back

Planted the garden yesterday... can someone say, "Pat, you don't have to plant the entire garden in one day!"







Okay here is what I have in my garden:
          Peppers variety
          SquashZucchini

          Tomatoes

           Christmas Butter Beans

           Blue Lake Green Beans

           Baby Lima

           Butter Peas

           Cucumbers

           Zipper Cream Peas

I'm really a redneck this morning and red shoulder too.  My back  hurts in places I didn't even know could hurt and on top of all that I have a huge knot on my tummy where a tick decided to take lunch, and then I had to listen to Ronnie sing Brad Paisley's  song "Ticks"


Cause I'd like to see you out in the moonlight
I'd like to kiss you way back in the sticks
I'd like to walk through a field of wildflowers
And I'd like to check you for ticks

Sorry... more horse pictures but also a story

The horse in the picture is Patty, I think her register name is Lena's Fast Little Patty but not sure... She isn't a gorgeous horse but that little girl can move.

Here's the story: Ron was doing a promotional talk to the local 4H club for the sport of Ranch Sorting, showing them what his new horse would do...

well my son has always had this opinion on what makes you a real cowboy and what doesn't... holding the horn doesn't.

He put Patty on a cow and that pony did the rest... Ron couldn't keep up and went off over her shoulder, well most of him went off but his jeans got hung up on the horn. Bruised him from loin to knee and shredded his jeans. He jumped up and grinned at the 4Hers and said, "And that is what you don't want to do when you're competing. Then he had to go home and change jeans before he could let the kids ride the horses.

Friends don't laugh at you when your horse bucks

At least that is what I told Pam today when she nearly fell off Dixie laughing... why... because Sandy was doing her rodeo bucking horse trick with me. She did great on the trail but when I came back to the barn, I thought I would move the calves around and see how she reacted. HA... I saw how she reacted. When the calves decided they had enough they ran across the pasture and Sandy wanted to out run them... when I said no.. Whoa... she put her head between her front legs and expressed her displeasure in a very bone jarring way. Don't worry; I didn't break another hip or anything. Not even close. I really do love that horse; she has so much spirit and heart. She knew there would be correction exercises to correct her bad behavior but she didn't care... she's a lot like my husband, maybe that is why I love her personality so much. Love the picture of the barn and horses and wanted to share Love the picture of my son jumping his trail horse, not because he's good at jumping but because he was having fun on his horse. Enjoyed my day with good friend Pam and a little secret she needs to know... next time you laugh when Sandy bucks... she's going to be your mount the next time we ride. The pretty horse is Sandy and the pretty girl is my granddaughter Lakelynn

Today I've been a murder, a cleaning lady, a groomer and now...

I'm going to be a lady of leisure, laying in the sun and reading a book.

I was a murder when I poisoned four fire ant mounts.. a cleaning lady when I cleaned the business I clean very Sunday and a groomer because I clipped my old dog that I had to give to my daughter because he was part Great Pyrenees and wouldn't stay out of my neighbor's pasture and he was nervous about his goats.

I don't think he would have bothered them but I wouldn't want a 100 lb dog I didn't know, running in my pasture with my live stock either.

And I groomed a Shih Tzu...

Oh yea, I also did a Easter dye job on Lexie... I use old time bluing mixed in her shampoo to whiten her white but you have to put four drops of bluing to almost a quart of water then you mix in the shampoo. I got lazy and put shampoo in first then bluing then water... the bluing attached to the shampoo instead of mixing with the water... results... dog with blue collar instead of white. I like it for Easter.

Found a picture of Ella when I was looking for Ocar's picture. All I have to say is... have you hugged a horse today?