Great Aunt Sally and the Baby

Every family has their eccentric relatives, and we had Aunt Sally. I never knew her, but there are many stories about her. She was the wife of my Great Grandfather’s half brother. Confused yet? Her husband and her never had children and after her husband died she had no place to go. Back in those days it was a very common practice to have relatives who couldn’t take care of themselves living with you, so my Grandparents bought her to live with them. Plus that’s the way my Grandparents were.

Aunt Sally was very eccentric as eccentric goes. Fmom says she constantly talked to herself and to other people who weren’t there. From what I can understand my Grandmother wasn’t the happiest she was there, because Aunt Sally constantly criticized everything she did. But as with my family we take it with a grain of salt and go on. Except for one time.

My oldest sister was still a baby and my mother was living with her, my three aunts, Aunt Sally and my Grandparents. My Dad was off at WWII. One day my Grandmother over heard Aunt Sally talking to herself saying that they weren’t taking good care of that baby and she was going to take it and go away. Knowing Aunt Sally my Grandmother didn’t know if she was just talking or would do it. So she put her foot down and let it be known that the baby was not to be left alone with Aunt Sally at anytime. One day while my Aunts were babysitting they were doing things around the house and my sister was in her crib. My Aunt K came back to check on her and she was gone. My Grandparents and Fmom were off visiting some relatives and my Aunt calls them. Now my Grandmother was never the best driver, but Fmom said she made record time and came close to giving my Grandfather a heart attack.

Well it ends up Aunt Sally did have my sister and of all the places they failed to look was the barn. They found Aunt Sally holding my sister singing to her. Fmom said she and my Grandmother was beyond worry when they were found. Fmom said she was almost hysterical, but my Grandmother being the person she was didn’t scold Aunt Sally. Fmom said she took the baby from Aunt Sally and said “Come on back to the house Sally.”

Fmom said she remembers the event like it was yesterday. She said she also remembers after that Aunt Sally never tried to take the baby again. She said they kept a watch on my sister up till the day Aunt Sally died, but Aunt Sally seemed content with others taking care of the baby. I think in that moment that they were found, a moment of clarity came to Aunt Sally and she saw what she did was wrong and how worried everyone was. I think that moment stuck with her and that’s the reason she never tried to take the baby again.

Although this story is about Aunt Sally, it’s also about my Grandmother and my family. My Grandmother, Fmom and the rest of the family could have been angry with Aunt Sally, but she and they weren’t. Aunt Sally was family and eccentric and she needed to be taken care of. I’ve talked about traditions a good deal before, but I think my family handed down to me the tradition of caring. Just as I now take care of Fmom, I think the rest of the family would be doing the same if I wasn’t here. I see so many old people being cast aside, and I know I couldn’t stand to see that happen with Fmom, just as my grandparents couldn't stand to see that happen to Aunt Sally.

George's Silent Killers.

I’ve come to a conclusion about George. I got to switch the food he’s eating or either stop him from sleeping on the bed with me. For people who have never had a dog sleep on the bed with them, then there are a few surprises, especially when they get older.

Not trying to be indelicate, but as of the last week or so George has found a new way to get my attention. Flatulence! If I’m lying on the bed and he wants something, most of the time he whines. He’ll start whining and if I don’t jump up he lets out a silent killer. For such a small dog, George can fill a room. I fear it’s my own fault for him doing this because I do jump up when he perfumes the air. However, at night when I’m asleep I do have a problem. You would think you wouldn’t wake up, but these bring you awake. Plus George has gotten into the habit of sleeping with his back end pointing toward my head. Now if he was down at the foot of the bed that might not be as bad. But once I fall asleep, George get up on the pillow besides mine. Have you ever woken up and the first thing you see is a dog’s back end. Not a pretty sight.

I was thinking the other day and wondering if they have Gas-X for dogs. It looks like I’m heading in that direction. Regardless as I’ve said before, you gotta love a face like that.

Get Home Safely

After two days I do believe I got a full nights sleep last night. Either that or I was so full of fudge bars I didn’t hear anything. Anyway I checked on Fmom this morning and she looks fine. Now to try and get some energy to start the day and get things straightened up around here.

I saw a lot of good pictures on Booman Tribune from the march in DC yesterday. I wish I could have been there, but I am appreciative of everyone that went and the pictures they posted.

Here’s hoping everyone’s Sunday is good and a safe return home to all the people at the marches.

Dreary Overcast Day

It’s overcast and a little dreary here today. It has started to sprinkle and there’s just a slight chill in the air. The relatives went home last evening and as soon as they left, Fmom had a bad dizzy spell that lasted just about all night. I think she started calling me at about 11:30 pm and the last call was at about 3:00 am. She called at around 2:00 am, and I went into her room. She had tried to get up from her bed, and had slide down the side of it to the floor. It took me about 15 minutes to get her back up. I told her because of all the fudgesicyles lately, that I needed a mini forklift to get her up. She wasn’t too happy with that statement. She said she’s feeling fine today and didn’t know what bought on that spell.

It’s probably because I’m tired, but today just seems like a dreary/blah day.

I hope everybody is doing fine today and that the marchers in DC and around the country are safe and get back home safely.

Very Very Early Morning.

Well Fmom woke me up at 1:00 am wanting something this morning. So I wake up and get it for her and try to go back to sleep. It wasn’t going to happen. I’m on my second cup of coffee and I checked on her and she’s back sound asleep. It’s a little bit taxing taking care of an aged parent sometimes, but that’s the reason I’m here.

I can see today is going to be a nap day. Didn’t get a single one yesterday and I’m due.

It’s supposed to be 54 F/12 C today and sunny. Ah, ya got to love winter.

Hope everyone has a good day.

Pond Picture Day

I haven't shown the pond in awhile, so I decided to go outside and take some pictures.

This picture was taken in August last year when the pond was so low. Then white line shows where the pond usually is.

Click to enlarge.

This a picture of the pond today.

Click to enlarge.

Some visitors to the pond today.

Click to enlarge

Hope everyone is doing fine and stay warm.

My Grandniece

Yesterday when I drove to my Neurology appointment, I was also in the general area where my grand niece is. She’s in the Neo-Natal Intensive Care unit for surgery after being born. She was four blocks away from the building I had to be at and I decided to walk. I forgot how long a city block is and I’m really out of shape, so by the time I had gone the four block and walked up and down stairs I was fairly pooped. I at first thought I might not get to see her because there has to be a parent or grandparent there to take you in. Well she had been moved from the NNIC to a special care unit and when I finally found her, they said her mother was there, but not on the floor as the moment. Something to do with lactation. Anyway they let me go and sit by my grand nieces little bed and I did for about fifteen minutes. She was wrapped up with just her little head showing, a head full of fine black hair. A head that had butterfly needles in its scalp and a little gastric tube protruding from her mouth. Even with all of this she looked so innocent and peaceful

This was the first time in decades that I had been around babies and little children that were sick or dying. I admit I didn’t see that many and I concentrated the most on my grandniece, but I did see the parents and relatives of these babies and children. I knew I was one of the massive numbers just in this hospital with probably the same look was on my face. Some of these babies are getting better, like my grandniece, and some are holding their own, but the look of worry is prevalent.

I used to work in hospitals many years ago and I had gotten, I guess you could call it, the hospital attitude. It’s where you know you have to get the job done if the child or adult is going to get better. So you put your emotions on the back burner and get the job done. I could watch surgery, IV’s being started or any of the normal stuff going on in the hospital. It’s been so many years though that now I can’t stand to see it. So a nurse came in to do something and I told her I would leave. She told me not to worry she was just going to remove a butterfly IV from her scalp. I told her in that case that I knew I had to leave. I knew from a peaceful slumber she would probably wake up and be hurting and there would be some blood. I just can’t take those things like I use to.

I left the building to go to my appointment, but as I was leaving I could see that look on all the parents faces. The looks of love, worry, and hope. It’s a look I haven’t seen in awhile, but one I’ve never forgotten.

The Pool Game

When I was in High School I had a part time job at a local service station in town. I’ve written about it before because that’s when I got my first car so I had a little mobility and a little money coming in. My junior year in high school I discovered the only pool hall in town. Believe it or not it was run by a man everybody call ”Pop”. Pop loved the game and had done some serious shooting in his younger day, but he had moved back here and opened the pool hall. Pop was a huge man. To say obese would be an understatement, but he could move around that pool hall just as fast as he needed and still shoot one heck of a game.

In Pop’s pool hall there were ten regulation-sized tables and two regulation sized snooker tables. At first I would shoot a couple of games on the regular tables, but one day Pop told me if I really wanted to learn pool to start shooting snooker. For the people who don’t know what snooker is here’s the wiki explanation - Snooker. To say the least it is much harder than regular pool, eight ball or nine ball. With the little bit of money I had and every second I could spare I would spend trying to get better at Snooker. Well surprising even to me I did get fairly good at it and Pop was always there to show you how to shoot even better.

I had a friend named Rodney that I used to shoot Snooker against all the time and we were both evenly matched. One Saturday night Rodney and I decided to go to the state line. Back then drinking age in Mississippi was 18. I was 17, but the bar across the state line never check ID’s, so we went there to have some beers and shoot some pool. While we were shooting two guys who looked to be in their late 30’s came up and wanted to know if we’d like to shoot a doubles eight ball game against them. We said sure and they wanted to play for $5.00 a game. Now I’ve never been a gambler and I figured if we lost more than two games against them, I would quit. We started playing and Rodney and I tore the table up against them. Now I’d already seen many people hustled at Pop’s place and knew what to look for. After five games we had them up to $25 and then they said the next game for double or nothing. I thought OK here it comes. We tore them up on that game too. I came to realize, these guys really weren’t worth a damn at pool and they were getting pretty drunk too. I start to get nervous and tell Rodney we need to leave so he tells them we had to go and to pay up. They tell us we’re not leaving the place until they win their money back. Obviously by this time I’m really nervous. I get Rodney over to a corner and tell him lets just lose the game and get the heck out of there. So we shot the game and I’ll tell you it was almost hard to lose to these guys. They were so drunk and bad at pool that an eight-year-old could have beat them. They did have one thing going for them though. They were big, drunk and intimidating as hell. The game was finally over and we had lost to them and no one owed anyone any money. So we tell them again we’re going to leave. They tell us no we weren’t because we had won their money and now they were going to win some of our money. Needless to say I didn’t tell them that we’d just given their money back by purposely shooting the worse games we could and no money had ever changed hands. But I didn’t because there’s nothing worse than insulting a mean drunk with a pool cue in his hand. So I tell them OK and then I tell Rodney come on and lets get a beer. We both walk into where the bar is and I explain to the bartender what’s happening. He starts giggling and says, “You boys go ahead and git out of here, and I’ll make sure they stay back there”. As we were going out the door I could hear the bartender going into a full belly laugh. Rodney and I jump into his car and high tail it back across the state line and I never went back to that place.

I learned some things that night.

1. I’m not a gambler
2. If you do gamble have the money on the table before the game begins.
3. And finally, don’t go into a redneck bar and start beating the regulars so bad it’s embarrassing.

I’ve never lost my love for pool, but I haven’t shot in years. I always thought that if I ever had the house I want, it would have a game room with a regulation pool table and a regulation Snooker table and the only money that would be played for is monopoly money.

Early Arrival.

Well as usual the rels that came in today couldn’t wait for a decent hour to arrive here and showed up at 4:00 am. Luckily I was already awake when they arrived and they got in without waking up Fmom. I guess George was still half asleep when they got in because he didn’t even a let out a little yap when he saw them. I ended up cooking a good bit yesterday, and I should be set for food for awhile. I also did laundry yesterday so this time I won’t be surprised by finding a bottle of laundry detergent filled with water. It seems like I can slack a little, while they’re here. At least I hope so.

Hope everybody has a good weekend and stay safe.

More Relatives.

I’ve got more relatives on the way here today. A new birth in the family makes it a reason for a get together. My new Grand Niece is still in the hospital because she had to have surgery after the birth, but the doctors say she is doing fine. We’re all looking forward to when she can come home. Both Fmom and I haven’t seen her yet because Fmom has felt so bad lately. I took her to the doctor and he said it was her gallbladder. So I’m trying to get her to go back to the doctor, but she’s stubborn as ever and won’t. The rels that are coming today will be a big help. My s-I-l will be able to get Fmom’s hair and makeup done and to get her dressed. I think that’s one of the reasons she won’t go to see the doctor today. She said on Monday she’ll be going.

Other than that, I’m trying to get the house cleaned up from the last rels here and for the new rels coming. I was telling Andi in the café this morning that I see a future in the B & B business with so many people coming and going. I know I complain about it being Grand Central around here, but that’s just me muttering a lot. I’m actually glad for the rels coming and the help they give.

Hope everybody’s day is going fine and if you in the bad weather be careful.

Comments.

I don’t know what’s going on with Holoscan, but it’s not putting down everyone’s comments in the comment number section of the post. I know today when I answered comments from yesterday, I kept getting a failed post, but the comments showed up anyway. Since I try and answer everyone’s comments, don’t be put off by the comment number if you’re checking back.

Added: FMom outsmarted me today and called the grocery store about the fudge bars. She found out they had them, so I'm back to eating fudge bars again. The lenghts I go to, to keep her healthy.

The Great Frozen Fudge Bars Eat Off

I made a mistake the other day and bought a box of Frozen Fudge Bars. There were 12 to a box and I thought they would last for awhile since I haven’t been a frozen fudge bar fanatic since childhood. That was before Fmom came into the picture. I try to feed her healthy food, but she gets on kicks for one certain thing and that all she’ll eat. She’s worse than a kid is sometimes on things she won’t eat. Well she got one frozen fudge bars and she was hooked. Every time I turned around it seemed she had a frozen fudge bar in her hand. I couldn’t throw them out and there is no place to hide them, so the thought came to me that if I started eating them and there were no more, then she couldn’t over indulge.

Yesterday Fmom was on her walker coming by my room and asked me to get her a frozen fudge bar and I said OK. I got her one and she couldn’t handle it while she was using the walker on her way to the den. At that time my niece called and asked what we were doing. I told her I was leading Fmom around the house with a frozen fudge bar. She laughed and then stopped and asked “Really?” I told her yep sure was. It’s the only way I can get her to exercise. I gave the phone to Fmom and she laughed and talked with my niece. But as soon as the phone was hung up, Fmom wanted that frozen fudge bar. I gave it to her and knew there were three left. Needless to say, I ate them all before she wanted another.

Now there are no more frozen fudge bars and she said today when I go to the store to pick up another box. I hate to do it, but I’m going to have to lie and say they were out. I guess I’m a bad son by not bringing any more home, but frankly, I’m getting sick of eating fudge bars.

My Father’s Shaving Mug.

I can remember when I was a little kid I would watch my father shave. It was like a ritual to him. He would always start off with a bath cloth and get the water in the sink as hot as he could stand it. Once this was done he would put the washcloth on his face and just let it sit for awhile and then repeat a couple of times. I would ask him why he wanted something so hot on his face and he told me it was to soften his beard. After he was satisfied with the softness of his beard he would get his shaving mug and brush. Most young people today don’t know what a shaving mug and brush are, but back then you had what looked like a thick coffee cup and at the bottom was a round cake of soap. You would add hot water to your brush and start the lather. He would then take his shaving brush and work up the lather up to the consistency of whipped cream. Then he would take his brush and start at his side burns and work his way across his face and down to his neck. Once this was done he would get his razor. Hi razor wasn’t one these modern three and four blade safety razors there are now. Nope this one you had a little screw mechanism at the bottom of the handle and the top opened up. Then you dropped in a new razor into the receptacle. These were the old two edge razors and if you didn’t have any experience with using them, you face could become nothing but cuts and blood. Well I would watch my father and be amazed at how fast and efficient he was at shaving. The ritual would continue with him always starting at the left side of his neck and then working up to his cheeks and finally his upper lip. It would end with him washing his face off with fresh water and then putting after-shave on. I don’t know the brand he used, but I remembering I loved the smell of that after-shave.

I used to marvel at the ease he could do this and kept wishing for the day that I would be able to go through this ritual. I felt it was just a step closer to growing up and becoming a man. So as any kid who wanted to be like his father and to be grown up, one day when no one was at home, I got my fathers razor and shaving mug out. I got the towels and wash clothes and prepared myself for my first step into manhood. I did everything just as I had seen my father do so many times before. I prepared my face with the hot clothes and waited. Then I made the lather in his mug and got the razor. My first stroke of the razor should have told me that I was going to need a lot of experience to get it right. Just with the first pull of the razor blood starting tricking down my neck. I dabbed at it with the wash cloth and keep on going. To cut a long story short by the time I got through it looked like Custers last stand there was so much blood. It didn’t help that I was going through a bad case of acne at the time either.

When my Father finally got home he didn’t chastise me or make fun of my shaving experience, but told me next time to let him know and he would show me how it was done. I was eight years old at that time and even with the bloody face, I kept thinking to myself I’m a man today. Needless to say that first experience was enough to last me for a long time. Plus once my brother and sisters saw the results, they razzed me unmercifully. So I didn’t try again for a long time.

As with many things my father’s razor was lost or thrown away, but I have managed to keep his shaving mug and his shaving brush. I can look at both of them and it brings back good memories of watching my Father shave and my first shaving experience. Sometimes I wonder at how such little, inconsequential things can bring back such a wealth of memories and how glad I am that I have my Fathers mug and brush.

Yesterday Was Not Good

Yesterday was not a good day. Fmom fell again last night and it took me forever to get her up. She didn’t hurt herself, but I think I hurt my back again. It hurts like hell to just bend, so I’ve put a call into the Ortho doctor that I’ve seen and waiting for a call from him. Then in the middle of the night Cat decided since she couldn’t wake me up, she would pee on the bed again. This time it wasn't a little quarter sized area, but she let it all out. I woke up and put her outside and I was mad. I stripped the bed and put everything in the washer and discovered we have no laundry detergent. I scrubbed the mattress; got a hair dryer and dried everything out and then turned the mattress over. This just made my back worse. Then last night after all of that I slept on the couch. It’s a comfortable couch, but I woke up all stiff.

Since I slept past 12 noon today from everything happening last night, I’m so thrown off my schedule that I don’t know when I’ll get back on it. We were supposed to go see the new niece today but that out for now.

I hope this isn’t a preview of how the New Year is going to go for us. If so, come on 2008.

Something To Fall Back On.

Yesterday I became a great Uncle for the eighth time. My Nephew and his wife had their first child, a little girl. I haven’t seen her yet, but I sure as soon as Fmom feels better, we’ll be taking a trip to see her. I remember when I was just becoming an Uncle that it sort of blew my mind, but now that those children are grown and having their own families, it’s just blowing me away that much more. I can just barely remember some of my great Aunts and Uncles. It seems they passed away while I was still pretty young. I hope that’s not a trend in our family.

Now that I have seven great nieces and one great nephew, I think I would tell them the same thing I told my daughters. Get a good education and good job so you don’t have to depend on anyone. Yes find someone you love, but always be able to depend on yourself if the going get rough. Neither of my daughters listened to me on that and my oldest that’s married seems happy enough, but still I wish she had something to fall back on, just in case.

I guess that’s one reason I have such great respect for Fmom. When my father died, she had always been a housewife with no outside work experience. My older siblings were married and trying to raise families of their own, I was trying to put myself through college and none of us could help out that much. Fmom had my two younger brothers to raise and she knew she couldn’t do it without working. So she went out and got her first job at 47. She worked there until she was 72 and didn’t want to retire even then, but she was offered a package to retire early and couldn’t pass it up. Now if Fmom had a good education and something to fall back on, it wouldn’t have been so hard on her, but she didn’t and at the beginning it was tough for her to learn new things and get used to going to an office everyday. Of course in all of this, she had no choice. If my younger brothers were going to have even the inkling of a normal life she had to work. So she did and they turned out pretty good.

I guess what I’m trying to say is sometimes situations hit you and you have no control over them. Most of the time you are the only person you can depend on. So whether you need to use it or not, it’s good to have something to fall back on.

The Appointment

I’m supposed to get Fmom to a doctor’s appointment today, but I’ll have to wait to see how that goes. She’s like a little kid sometimes where she says if I want to go I’ll go and if I don’t want to I won’t. Thank goodness this guy has been her family doctor for years, so he understand when she keeps canceling appointments.

I’ve found out two reasons that she doesn’t want to go. One, is she’s afraid they might find something. I told her that it’s better if there is something there to find it early, but she’s the kind that doesn’t want to know. Second, she’s afraid of hospitals. Anytime she see something on the TV about people dying from hospital infections, it just steals her mind more not to go. So today I’ll spend the wheel and see if it lands on her going to her appointment.

BooMan Tribune ArtFair 2007

I’m late in posting this, but the ArtFair is today. So if you’ve got any paintings you did, family or friends did, take a picture of it and submit to the ArtFair. Notice I said family too. I’m sure there are many proud parents with pictures hanging on the fridge that their budding artist did, or if you painted something and want to blame it on the kid, then go ahead. After all art is art.

I kept trying to put a link to it, but kept getting the front page for some reason. Just go over to Booman Tribune and check the recent diaries.

Bad Mood!

You ever have one of those days where you know from the start it not going to be a good day. Today seems to be one of my days. Fmom woke up on the warpath and I’m expecting the rest of the day to just go downhill. Everything from no coffee in the house to I forgot to buy new razors. The old one felt like I was trying to shave with sandpaper. At least with George and Cat they’ve been Ok so far today, but the day isn’t over.

This kind of day puts me in a bad mood and I don’t like it. As usual I won’t stay in a bad mood and this one will pass pretty fast, but I hate to feel this way. Sometimes I think that if I could find a cave somewhere I would be a hermit. Of course the cave would have to have all the modern amenities. Couldn’t do without electricity, TV, Phone, DSL, not to mention bathroom, kitchen and everything else. The only problem is there’s not that many caves around like that.

I hope today everybody’s day is going well or at least better than mine.

George and Cat.

George and Cat are about to drive me crazy. George has gotten to the point to where when I take him out in the back yard without a leash; he completely ignores me when I call him. When I know he’s through using the bathroom, he just keeps sniffing and walking around no matter how much I call. When he sees I’m getting mad, it doesn’t matter to him. He’ll just keep doing what he wants to until he’s ready to come inside. I can see the leash is going to have to go back on for awhile.

Now Cat has been doing pretty good until this morning. Last night I had washed and dried a blanket that was on the bed. Early this morning when I got up Cat wouldn’t go out, so I decided she didn’t need to. I’m laying on the bed later and she jumps up and squats right by me on the blanket and starts urinating. Needless to say I was mad. I picked her up and put her outside where she’ll stay all day. She knows I’m mad too because when I took George out a little while ago, she was up rubbing her head against my leg the whole time. Then when George was through she was almost climbing over George to get back in.

Oh I almost forgot. New Years Eve was George’s B’day. He turned 10 or I guess in human years 70. I wish I had as much energy as him in my 50’s.

I hope everyone has a good day and stay warm.

Back To Work.

It the beginning of a new work year. I was thinking back earlier through my work life there were a few jobs I’ve had in my life time that I really loved. One was while I was in the military doing the OSHA/EPA job. I felt good about that job and looked forward to going to work. Back then though, you could end up in a new office every two years. Although the job didn’t change, the people you worked for and with did. I had never worked in offices before and I found that at one place where it was a joy to come to work, at another with different people it was no fun what so ever.

I know people who can explain it better than me have categorized each type of personality you find in offices, so I won’t even go into to that. I do know when I had people working for me I tried to make work a place they wanted to come to and to let them know that just as long as they got their job done, I had their back.

I guess the only way to have a good work place is to start you own business and surround yourself with people you like. Since there are very few people who can do that, I hope whereever you are working you enjoy yourself and have good people to work with.

It’s A New Year.

Hope everyone’s coming year is a happy and safe one. The tradition down here is to have black-eyed peas to eat on this day. I think last year over at the Village Blue we had a discussion about what different areas of the country and world ate on New Year’s Day for good luck. I didn’t get any peas for today, so I’ll have to dig around and see what we’ve got, maybe Butterbeans.