Rick took our eldest son to Spring Training in Phoenix, and our younger son on a road trip to the Grand Canyon, Bryce and Zion. So, I asked our daughter where she would like to go and her quick answer was “Yellowstone!” My quick response was “All right!” We met in Las Vegas, overnighted, then flew to Denver and on to Jackson Hole where we picked up our rental car. Our first two nights were spent … Read more
One of my favorite things to do at the County Fair each year is wander slowly through the buildings displaying arts and crafts, landscape design and new or improved inventions. I’m always amazed at the creativity and ingenuity of people. Ornate, hand-made clocks, oil and watercolor paintings, photography, embroidery, quilting, rug making, needlepoint so fine it looks like a photograph, bread-cake-cookie baking, wood carving, poetry by young and old framed for our delight, canning, gutter guards, … Read more
We’ve had Sarge on medications that are supposed to repel fleas and ticks. Well, one day I was scratching his back and noticed a strange lump. Upon further investigation, I found a swollen, tidily tucked in tick buried deep in his flesh under all that fur. It was pretty big, and clearly full of Sarge’s blood. I know better than to pull off a tick. The head can remain inside the flesh and spread infection. … Read more
Each one of us has lived through historical events. Some flow on by without making an impact. Others shape us. Some “events” don’t have a specific date – but the time is remembered. The Cold War, for example. Fear seemed to reign. In grade and high school, we had “duck-and-cover” drills to “prepare for” nuclear attack by the Russians. As if hiding under your desk would help you survive a nuclear blast. Even kids knew you … Read more
I tend to collect interesting tidbits of information from our newspaper, a magazine, or something in conversation that I can’t wait to look up and confirm. Here are some examples: Baby brain facts: babies can hear at 24 weeks into pregnancy, and from then on are hard wired for relationship. Our babies recognized our voices. Rick used to read to them when they were nestled in the womb. I talked to them all the time, rubbing … Read more
by guest blogger Barney Cargile Slowly removing the container from his personal preference kit, Buzz Aldrin examined the elements in his hand. Sitting next to him, Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong had earlier uttered the historic words, “The Eagle has landed,” as the space module caressed the lunar surface on July 20, 1969. Those were the first words spoken from the moon, and now Aldrin was preparing to consume the first “food” on a celestial body … Read more
Summer is a wonderful time for reading. Rick sits in a mesh-bottomed inner tube and floats in the pool, book in hand. I read in the living room, with a CD playing ocean waves or burbling streams or bird song. Rick and I both love to read, and we have different tastes. He likes heavy history texts and political and military thrillers. My reading tastes are more difficult to describe. I just finished Where the Crawdads … Read more
I collect quotes. I have notebooks full of them. Some are from ordinary people, others from famous personages. I never know when I’ll run across a gem, so I carry a note pad in my purse. Not long ago I happened on a small book of quotes by Winston Churchill. Here are a few of my favorites: “Nourish your hopes, but do not overlook realities.” “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage … Read more
Rick and I sat in pjs on Sunday, reminiscing about our dads and giving thanks for them. Rick’s father, William Richard Rivers, weathered many storms. Passed from relative to relative, he and his three brothers worked fields while their father, a merchant marine, was out to sea. When the Depression hit, and all his savings disappeared along with his hopes for a college education, Dad rode the rails to California. Everything except the pants he wore … Read more
Rick and I knew when we purchased our home that we were in the flight path for the local airport. It’s a small airport and less than a dozen flights a day, not all of which fly overhead. Aviation is in my husband’s blood. He ran his own aviation business for twenty-five years before retiring. So, we were delighted to be in the flight path. We enjoy watching small private planes as well as jets fly … Read more