Miss Arkansas Ventriloquist at the Miss America Pageant, 2011

We're going to Utah.

Looks like someone's working on a Lexus.

This is a screen shot of questions that have been googled that can be chosen to write up for eHow. I'm for sure claiming that second one.

Na Na Na Na Na Na

We have bananas in our back yard and you don't. Unless you do, of course, and then you can let me know. This our third or fouth crop-not that Chiquita will come calling any time soon, but I am getting the words down to some good Harry Belafonte tunes. When they are big enough to tally, I will call the tally-man. I owe him that much.

A girl is staying at her grandmother's.

This one is Olivia. She loves all the girlie things in life. She and her brother are spending a couple of days with us whilst their mother is out of town. She loves purses, lipstick, changing clothes a lot and just looking and acting the DIVA. She comes in and kicks her shoes off and then parks them right by grandma's. Last night we were dining out and she saw a high-school girl come in with cute shoes and could not resist staring at those shoes and saying "cute." For a fleeting millionth of a second, I thought she meant ME! In the end, she kept saying "cute shoes." I had to take the hint from that, I guess. I am going to put some real thought into how I can impress her today. Other than using M&M's, I have got to get that two-year old to think I am cute too.

Old Oreo

What a steed, Old Oreo was in his day!
Black as midnight or thereabouts.
Never complained about his load or burden.
But plodded onward and onward.
He was no nay-sayer, that one.

Neigh, he was no nay-sayer that one.

O what a beautiful morning!

The only things missing in this photo are the other six grandchildren. How we love our little ones. They found plenty of eggs to fill their baskets and we had a nice meal where they totally ignored all of the good things--deferring, of course to the candy.

Archers!

In the battle for spring, out come my archers! No, not the bow and arrow kind-
but dandy little yellow flowers on long stems that stand up tall to defy the vestige of the cold winter-
and reach for the sun as if to be the first one to drink in warmth.
At night, they droop lazily.
In the morning sun , they arch straight up with sentinal-like precision--holding fast their guard.

Their duty is solely to delight my spirit and give me hope through the joy they provide.
The sad thing is that I reap their visual beauty and harvest the joy they provide
but I cannot even remember their names.
I hope that I am not that ignorant of real people who have blessed my life without the expectation of gratitude.

I should make a list of them.
Not just now, though, perhaps later.
For the moment, I have a staring problem for these unnamed little yellow flowers in my yard.

An Arizona Snow day

While NYC got a foot and a half, and while other parts of the nation are buried in cold weather, several of us jumped on our mountain bikes for a nice little ride. OK, it was a hard ride where the old man had to walk up a few hills and dance the edge of a cliff or two in order to make progress. That aside, it was a beautiful day. Thanks to Cameron and Nathan who were very patient with the slow, old guy in the rear. The good news is that I did not fall one time.

To quote some hick in from the south, "it just don't get no better than this."

This makes up for all the times Nick has beaten me at Scrabble.

Now why didn't I think of that?

I have to give one of our grandchildren a lot of credit for creativity. Here is a photo of the downstairs in-wall outlet for the household
vacuum system. While it was not in use on Christmas day, little one found a nice use for this--a place to store Laffy-Taffy! You have to admit that you never would have put those two items together. I wonder what is in store next? Other than having a three-year old hand you an unfolded pocket knife, I mean. I could go on, but our fountain is plugged up.....it was fine before they played in the back yard. Also, Brooke's make-up brushes were in good shape before they were used to spread sunshine throughout the house. Oh, we love these little ones!

Christmas camp 2009

This is the last photo ever published of our ten grandkids. From left to right, we see Landon, Joshua, Tyler, Olivia, Adeline, Allison, Penelope, Nathan, Amanda and Jacob seated on the floor. Nobody knows the logistics of getting this group to look in one direction long enough to snap a photograph. The reason it is the last one of the ten is that now there are ELEVEN in the family. Little Cora was born tonight. She joins a noisy crowd of go-getters and any of these will move over and make a place for her. Life brings so many wonderful changes to our family. Just think! We started with just two of us in 1973 and now there are 21 of us. That is a lot of Christmas jammies!

Holiday Family Night

A & M are both performing at their school's holiday performance on Thursday night at 6pm. If you'd like to come watch them, email me for directions!

Hot Feet

Adeline was putting on footed pajamas and hadn't taken off her socks so I asked, "Don't you want to take off your socks first since these jammies have feet in them?"

Her response: "No. Grandma always wears socks to bed and I like to be like Grandma."

I could have been born a TURKEY!

I bet these seagulls are glad that they are not turkeys! No single holiday would single this kind of bird out like Thanksgiving does. I guess it is all for the best--the drumsticks are a little lacking on gulls.

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all. I look forward to sampling the best of the family recipes old and new. As we gather, think of all those who made and make our joyous celebrations possible. I include the brave men and women of the military, the brave men women missionaries whose message of peace will be the only way to happiness and the brave men and women of our past generations that made our lives in the greatest country possible.

Where is my pilgrim outfit?

Supplemental Income

Carl, tell me more about this advertisement with your picture that I just found on Drudge. Where'd you get that pumpkin shirt?

When is Brooke coming home?

I think that I should check the itinerary and make sure that I have at least one full Saturday to get the house tidy and neat for Brooke's return. I should make a list of things to do before she comes back. A little laundry would be good. Go through a foot-high stack of mail-order catalagues. I think we are just about out of garbage bags so I can use the trash compactor (my foot inside the bag) to pack it in.

I think I have burned eggs on the good frying pans. I wonder if she will miss them if I toss them out? I think she wanted some of those good grocery store fry pans.

Hey, anyone got any ideas about how to get the fabric in our home to not smell like sardines? I think a little spilled on the sofa. And, who knew that you could not leave half-frozen moose meat on the counter for a couple of days and forget about it? Hey, it is just blood, right? Well, it was, just blood. Now it is a permanent stain on the counter-t0p.

Good thing we don't have a dog...although he could have wet-mopped the floor with all the food that I have dropped. And too bad we don't have a cat...those tuna cans should be rinsed before they fall way back behind the trash compactor.

On the good side of the ledger, I......I......I......I......oh, I called the garage door service guy. He will have the system cleaned and adjusted so that we can get that dead animal out of the garage...I did not dare bring the second one through the house.

Welcome home Brooke!

Livy Lu Loves her Poppy Poo!

Go Yankees!

So far, so good.

I cannot seem to take a photo of my license plate. It is visible, as required by the law, but it is not photogenic. I guess I got one of those shy license plates that posed last December for the speed-trap cameras, but since then, has been resistive--in a nice way, of course.

I will go on record that I think that the photo-radar cameras are an intrusion into our freedom. There should be no reason under the sun for one who has driven for 43 years to turn the "reasonable and prudent" determination over to a camera. This is especially important because those who uncover stuff found the manual for the manned radar cameras. They are not supposed to give tickets to judges, politicians and police officers who find themselves determining for themselves what "reason and prudent" seem to mean.

Get out of our lives, Big Brother.