Requests from Furballs!

 Requests from Furballs!

 

Just a few minutes ago, Thompson came into the living room, looked up at me, and said, “Wrrrowr, rooorrr!” That must have meant: “Where’s the food?” cause as soon as it was put in their bowls, they both looked happier. However, the no-good-for-anything old woman did not heat it up in the microwave. So, a couple of looks came this way that said something along the lines of: “Just wait until we talk to management about this!” But they cleaned their bowls and are now looking out the windows at all the stuff blowing by. The wind, however, has let up considerably. It might be possible to walk outside without tying myself to the deck to keep from blowing away—No, it won’t happen since the weight on this end of the rope is considerable. Hmm.

 

Not sure what the status of the latest fires around Iowa Park might be at the moment, but Shannon Combs (the local weatherman) said that the forestry plane had come up and was dumping water on the fire. The highway patrol was escorting folks along 287 since it was down to one lane and covered in heavy smoke. They were undoubtedly trying to prevent any accidents and other problems. One thing is for sure, if the highway patrol or any of our LEOs see a trailer with a chain dragging below it, they can count on being stopped. My son thought the fires were probably because of smokers—cigarettes. That is highly unlikely. Usually, it is the high line wires hitting together and sparking onto dry grass. Cigarettes are made differently than they were years ago. Each section is made to go out if it does not have a pretty constant draw on it. Just one of those random facts.

 

It’s almost time to put the hens up for the night. They have not done much on the egg laying front today. Maybe the wind has made them nervous and upset, too. Sylvia would agree with them totally. She had to wear her thunder shirt today while she whined and hung onto my leg under the desk. Poor girl was so jumpy.

 

Patty called earlier this evening and told me that the roof of Jerry’s pagoda looked as if it was headed south. Sent a message to Jo Ann to let her know, and she sent Lisa to check on it. She agreed that it needed help. It was Southern engineered on there anyway. Propped up with four little boards and a couple of wires! Jo Ann said it is one heavy sucker. Can just see it hitting the neighbor’s house to his south. Not a good thing at all.

 

Made salad today with the broccoli, cooked chicken, apple, craisins, and salad dressing. Mighty tasty. Bought a couple of apples recently of some strange name. Had absolutely no taste, but this sugar bee kind is some very sweet, crisp apple. It makes anything taste better.

 

Patty discovered that her home phone was not ringing. So for now, we will have to use her cell phone if she needs something. Not sure just why the home phone is not working unless it has something to do with where the main office is and whether or not it has been affected by the wind or the fires. We never had any trouble with ours as long as we had WebFire, but can’t remember what we had before that company. Don’t think it is still in business. One of the women who worked there was the wife of one of the guys Lewis worked with. She started attending school at ACC and thought it was funny to have me as a teacher. She was only one of more than a few who had to do some “re-tooling” for another job. Some of the big companies here left town when WF would no longer give them the big tax breaks, so a bunch of folks had to learn a different line of work.

 

The ceiling fan has been necessary in here this evening. It got a little warm despite the wind. But at least it was not too cold or too hot to get outside to do whatever had to be done—filling up the water bowls, for instance. Really dread taking the hose off the faucet even though Lance got one of those things to fit on the faucet to keep it from freezing. We are supposed to have freezing nights as of Saturday. Not much joy in that situation.

 

Got to thinking about my parents and my mother-in-law yesterday. Mom would call once in a while when Daddy had gone somewhere. She did not want him to know that she had called me because she was—well, tacky is the only term useful here—about him talking to me. He could not hear it thunder, but he would call and try hard to listen. And he usually called when she was out of the house for whatever reason. Then when we put them in the nursing home, they called every day and sometimes several times a day. We never knew if they were needing something or just what, but now it has occurred to me that they were just lonely. Oh yes, other people were around them, but that is not the same as family. Then there was MIL, Joy Dickerson. She started calling two and three times a day while she was still living at home. Not so sure about the nursing home, but can’t remember if Anne got her a phone or not. Of course, any of them could use the nurses’ phone at the desk. But Lewis would look over at me and say, “It’s your turn.” They were just lonely. We went to see my parents once a week, and Anne would go see her mom every other day or more often if she could see that Joy was upset or something. It was a little harder for us. Lewis just did not like to get out at all unless he just had to. He hurt constantly and could not depend on his old knees to hold him up. Such is life. Anyway, my point is this: old folks need to hear from their kids, grands, or friends. By the time Joy went into the nursing home, most of her friends were dead. The same was true of my parents. And Sterling could not make the trip down here from Arkansas unless it was a necessity. Yes, yours truly had to call him a couple of times. And he was good to come when asked. All the friends in the world are wonderful, but your children and grands make life worth living. And yes, that is a bit of a burden on them, but they can do rotations! That’s what we did on the phone calls. The trips were my responsibility for the most part, but that changed as well. When Lewis died and was not there with me, Daddy asked how he was doing since he knew that Lewis had been ill. Daddy cried when told that Lewis was no longer with us. It made me feel bad, but what else could have been said? But then Daddy wanted to know if he could do anything to help. He wanted to know if my car was doing ok and if anything else needed any help he could provide. He was a good old man and a good daddy. Not a perfect man, but then, there was only one of those ever born or lived.

 

About next Tuesday, a bunch of stars are going to be lined up to make up “the star of Bethlehem.” It will undoubtedly be cloudy over us, but just in case you might get a chance to see this alignment, there you have the day.

 

Not a lot going on inside my head tonight. Finished another book and thought about trying a movie, but just don’t have the patience to look through all those channels. May have to get Jennifer to show me any kind of menu that might be available—kinda like those little magazines that used to tell you what would be on. Can’t think: TV Guide, duh. They probably have one on the movie channels.

 

Will ask you to pray for our firefighters tonight and all the LEOs that are having to keep folks safe tonight. It has to be one of the hardest jobs out there. Then remember that the same system that has just thrown all this wind out of the Rockies is making its way across the center of our country with more violent storms expected. Let’s pray NOW that the storms don’t take anyone’s life or homes.

 

Get some rest and look for joy. You are loved.