January 16 2024 - wow the years they are a passing   I do so want to blog, I enjoy writing down my musings so I can look back and see what I was thinking at any random point in my life.  It doesn't take much to entertain me.  Take for instance my afternoon munchie.  A toasted baguette slice (4) with cream cheese and what I would call olive salsa a lot of the same ingredients as a tapenade but not as finely ground and no capers or anchovies.  I like most foods but anchovies are not one of them,  If I can get table side Cesar salad and they rub the inside of the bowl with them, well that is nice but it is just about my limit.  I cooked a lot in the last two days, two of my granddaughters came over and spent the night.  I love cooking for them and they both have a good pallet. Unlike my grandsons who are extremely happy with steak and steak and steak.  At least they like it medium or medium rare, I hate to see a good piece of meat burnt to the point of dry and no flavor whatsoever.  The weather has been cold and cold is a great reason for soup, anytime is a great time for soup but in winter it is easier to get away with heavy soups and stews. Growing up I never knew the difference between a chicken or beef stew or soup. Seems like the first night it was more soup than stew but after resting for a day or two it became thicker and more stew like, never the less I'm still a fan......why don't we call chili a stew or do we, it has always just been chili.  

Politics.  Most of my friends and relatives are Republicans and we are all having a hard time with Biden and his crew.  Could someone please tell me who is running our country, it sure as hell is not Joe Biden, if anyone has intrusted anything to this man let alone state secrets and nuclear launch codes.......tell me it isn't so.  I have had family in nursing homes who were more cognitive alert than this man, in fact my dead dogs were more alert. It is both sad and frightening to watch this man.  I truly do not understand anyone who can support him, it really does seem like elder abuse.  I also have a hard time listening to people defend him,  he cannot walk and talk at the same time and not just on a few occasions.  His press secretary must go home at night and practice self-flagellation, one strong (but stupid) woman to keep doing this in front of the whole world.

Border. Anyone who doesn't think this is a crisis is just plain blind and/or stupid, there I said it.  I cannot believe what is shown on the crossings and I know that is just the tip of the iceberg.  I have no idea short of  extremely radical action how to stop it.  No-one in their right mind can think that so many able-bodied men carrying small children who are not their son/daughters is up to good........breaks my heart.  Yes I believe that we should let people in our country, the legal way.  I cannot see that kicking veterans out of the hospitals and children out of school for medical care and housing is agreeable to anyone with two functioning brain cells.

Well, between politics and the border I am depressed to the point of closing this rant out, I think talking about the state of the economy, oil production the war in Ukraine, China, Putin etc etc etc might just cause me to start drinking.

with all this in mind HAPPY NEW YEAR, hope for better days ahead.

 August 31, 2023

Four years since my last post, man does time fly.  At this point in life it feels like a giant boulder rolling down hill.

Catch-up

That house we wrote an offer on, well I'm still here.  This might be an all time record for me in my adult life for longest stay.  I am hoping they carry me out feet first, I really enjoy where I live and its proximities  to my two families.  I am 15 min to Cords family and 20 to Cole's.  I'm sure my Daughter-in-laws were hoping for more distance but.....it is what it is.  I have enjoyed my life so much and still hoping for a few more good years (maybe 20+). 

My crop of grandchildren has stalled at 6, I think that is the complete crop.  Approximate ages 17 to 10, give or take a few months.  Of course they are PERFECT.  Well.......to be completely honest they are extremely entertaining.  Next year I will have my first senior and then on to the college years.  All of my grands are sooooo different but you can definitely tell they are related the gene  pool is pretty evident.  In my totally biased opinion they are perfect.  Each one has such a unique personality. I sure hope they will continue to talk to me as we all age, they are so bright and extremely funny. 

I have been blessed to have had the opportunity to do some traveling in these past few years   Ireland, Bahamas, Nicaragua, and Africa.  I love traveling I hope to see Italy again before I can no longer get around, for some reason I felt an odd connection to that place,  I loved the landscape and quaint towns.  The art and architecture was amazing.  The wild  wonderful colors on doors and windows, flowers everywhere and such friendly People   Don't get me started on the food, that place ruined pizza for me.  I haven't found any pizza since then that even comes close, its like we are trying to hard and have missed the entire point of the dish.  Africa, was at once everything I though and nothing I had imagined at the same time.  It is almost impossible to describe, so different.  I don't think I closed my mouth the entire time we were there.  After seeing all those magnificent creatures in their natural habitat ...I don't think I can ever go to a zoo again. Had the opportunity to see a cheetah stalk and take down an impala, once the chase was on it happened so fast I wasn't sure I truly saw it. Beautiful and savage at the same time.

August=summer.  Everyone (not native Texan) is screaming global warming.  We have had a streak of 45 days of 100+ degree days we broke the streak as of August 22 when we only hit 99.  For all non native folks we get this about  ever 10-12 years, hotter than normal (for us).  It will pass, we will probably have a colder than normal winter and then it starts again.  As I recall after a hotter than hell summer we usually have a couple of years of extremely nice summers (less than 100) only mid 90's. We really could use some rain, a lot of rain, hopefully a long soaking type for about 2 weeks.  Let the lake levels come back up and the fauna gets a good soaking. Remember, if you don't like it hot, both temperature and food, this was NEVER the place for you (long term).  I love Texas, always have, for a lot of reasons, but I do concede that as I get older I do stay indoors more on hot days than I used to.  I was in East Texas a couple of weeks ago and I didn't go fishing one time.  Yes, it is that hot.  But if I think back to my youth, I wonder if it ever got so hot that we didn't go outside?  I'm not sure staying inside was an option.  I am keeping a few outdoor plants alive but for some reason the heat was to much for my tomato plants, it was a sad year for them.  I was so looking forward to some fresh gazpacho but I couldn't find enough fresh homegrown tomatoes to make it work.  Thinking of cold soup, my oldest grandson called two weeks ago and asked me to make chili, your wish is my command but my portion went in the freezer, hoping for that cold winter.

Well that's all for now.  Hopefully it want be 4-5 years before I write again....stay happy (and cool)

FULL TURN - 7 years later

July 29 2019

Yes, I left Austin, I moved to Alba, I built, I fished, I did the garden thing, I mowed and mowed and mowed and raked leaves.  I cleared a few acres, picked up a hell of a lot of limbs and set enough fires for a lifetime.  I loved every minute of it.  I still feel I didn't get all the fishing out of me, before I die I want to catch a 10 lb bass (who doesn't).  I now have 6 grandchildren, 3 girls and 3 boys, ages 13 (in a couple of months) to 5.  In order of age Tatum (12) Cross (11) Tinsley and Cannan (10) Banks (8) and Bevo, that's right BEVO (5).  Life is more than full, my cup runneth over.

Not sure what pushed me over the edge, but I wanted to come back to Austin. So approximately a year ago I moved back.  I once again have opted for the city life. I still have my cabin in Alba and just knowing it is there is a good thing. My building in Alba consisted of my casita and a bunk house for the grandchildren.  The casita looks like a fishing shack with a sense of style and the bunk house looks like an old general store with a great porch.  I also built a "tool/garden shed" which is probably the best built of the three.  The garden shed also has a small porch and I let my sister pick the exterior color, it would fit right in on the beach in the Bahamas.  I love all three and enjoy just looking at them.

I was just about to pull the trigger on my next build, which would have been a real house for myself when I made a visit to Austin. Older son Cord asked if I was sure that was what I wanted to do and of course I told him I didn't have a clue as to what I wanted to do. He said "let's go look at a few places" and that afternoon we wrote an offer on my new digs. Am I flexible or what? One of the places we looked at just felt "right" and that is where I landed.

If anyone bothered to read the first post you would know I gave away most of my furniture. As luck would have it Cord had sold a large home in Austin and the owners left a massive amount of furniture, rugs, art, drapes and lights and asked him to get rid of it. Mamma an't proud and I love to  dumpster dive. Dumpster diving in a multi-million dollar home felt a lot like shopping at Neiman Marcus.  I only had to buy 2 beds, a desk and dinning set and I furnished my entire home.  I love it and it fits me just fine.  No more lawn work, I have a HOA that does it and no more swimming in the pasture pool, I have a lovely community pool almost in my backdoor and most times I have it all to myself and my grandchildren. I have not eaten a chicken fried anything since moving back and have enjoyed having a variety of restaurants to choose from. I never could make myself get sushi from the gas station in East Texas so I have been eating it on a regular basis since returning to city life.

I will not miss having to drive 30-40 miles to the nearest cinema as I love the movies. And with that in mind I will close for now as I am going to see "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood " in a few minutes.

BUT....I do miss rocking chairs on the back porch, lots of cold sweeeeet tea and Jeannine, Kent, Sarah, Janie and her brood (especially Kyle) and all the friends I made.

HOMELESS

Yes folks that is me, I have no home.  Everything I still own after giving away sooooo much is stored. I am living out of my suitcase.  I am at present living on the good graces of my son Cord and his wife Anne.  I am roughen it at their sweet digs in Austin.  I have my own room and full bath plus most of the walk-in closet.  They might not be able to get rid of me, just call me King of the Road, no food no rent etc....etc......

My UHaul experience was AWFUL.......I still have not sent letter to corporate asking for some sort of reimbursement for the POS I was driving.....a 3.5 hour drive which might have been 4.5 given that I was driving so slow with my load and it required gas every 150 miles took me 12 Hours*****!!!!!! U Haul is all sweet to you as long as you are in possession of their truck but when you go to turn it in, all the assurances they give you about making up for the brakes or lack of and time to fix and so forth, is just so many words and a nice go F&%$ yourself we have your $$ and our truck back and there isn't much you can do about it.  I will make it my mission in life to bad mouth them every chance I get. I figure you don't have to go tell it on a mountain just post it on Facebook.

This is Granny Jenny's favorite time of the year "Halloween"  the old witch just loved this holiday.  She wasn't much on Thanksgiving, Christmas or Easter but Halloween was worth waiting for. So far I have gone to two functions with my grandchildren and the big day is not even here.  It will be hard pressed for anyone to come up with a better costume than Anne, a glamorous Miss Piggy after by-pass surgery, Kermit would turn pink.  Son Cole is going as "The Beast" and his daughter as Belle that being her favorite story, she will be in heaven: Note to Cole: quit bitching about the cost of the costume it will be more than worth it for the memories.

Cole has just in the past few weeks opened up his new venture "The Last Resort Recovery Center" and it is going strong,  projections were for 1 or 2 clients the first month and we now have 4 with 2 more possible next week, hope we have enough beds.  Wish there was no need in the world for this type of business but the reality is that there are not enough beds for those who have a need.  Check out his web site.

Cord is talking to reality TV about his Fool's Roll event.  Someone contacted him about the possibility and he is going to see if there is a fit for it on TV, if Honey BooBoo can make it he is a sure bet.

I was fortunate to go with oldest granddaughter Tatum on a field trip today to "Crows Nest Farm" with her kindergarten class......a fun time was had by all.  I am still in my overalls and bath has my name on it as I got to chase and catch a runaway chicken, Tatum was much impressed with Granny, as I was with myself, if that small boy had not stepped on it I could not have done it, thank you boy in blue shirt.

Enjoy the season and cooler temps and if you have a spare room (with private bath, I am picky) let me know, I am turning into a great bum.

Nettie

O M G

O M G

I am boxed. Ready to pick up my U-Haul tomorrow morning.  The movers will load me and I will be off to East Texas.  Jeannine has some local (read that Kent's friends) movers to unload my treasures and I will be living out of a suitcase for a few months.  Did I mention that I hate to box up my house.  I could not hire movers to do it as I had so many things to sort out.  I filled my trunk with papers that I had shredded, bank statements and such, a TRUNK LOAD for one little old lady!!!  I have given away all my shoes, clothes and hats, in addition all of the toys for the gbabies that I will no longer have room for, not that I had room for them in my present place but felt I needed them.  Now when the kids visit it will be outdoor fun and fishing, none of this stay in house stuff, I HOPE.

My office furniture was picked up for the Last Resort about 10 days ago and all of my computer stuff was unplugged.  I didn't try and re-connect as it all has to be packed so I have been free of computers and my land line.  I have only been accessible by cell phone or snail mail, and since I only check my mail boxes about once every three weeks I have been really hard to find, that is unless you went by my house where my head was in a box and my phone was "somewhere" under a pile of "something".  I finally just gave up trying to answer the damn thing and would catch up on calls after bath time.  I stripped my bed this morning so I could pack clean sheets so I will be sleeping in my club chair with my feet propped up on the ottoman, should be a really good nights sleep.  I think I counted about 10 pieces of furniture I have left, I am traveling light.  In reality I still have enough "stuff" to fill two cabins the size I am building, soooooo I guess I will have to sort thru all this again when I get ready to move in, maybe I will just put a match to it.

I got to keep my sister-in-law in the divorce seeing as she is one of my best friends and she has agreed to take me to Love Field after I finish moving my things into storage so I can fly back to  Austin.  My house does not close until the 3rd of October and I still have to have it cleaned and all of the utilities cut off and change my mail and move my banking. BUT......as soon as I get back to Austin I am having a manicure, toecure and a massage, I have earned it.

As I write I am at Cord and Anne's house babysitting Banks (almost 2 yrs).  He is real easy as he sleeps thru my entire sit.  I have taken control of Cords computer and I hate his keyboard.  It is shaped funny and falls of to the side and I feel as though I am typing at a snails speed, so with that in mind I will bid you all a farewell until after I get my things stored away.  Wish me luck with my  big U-Haul and pray for all of the other folks on the road.

On the road again.......jet

Cole's Little Miners

Those check out stand displays really work, I buy more stupid magazines and gum than I can stand.  While waiting to check out at Home Depot this week I saw something "cute".  Little head bands with a light attached to it, these were made for children, Tinker Bell and Cars logo.  Latter that day as I was loading my trunk with some other purchases Cross spies these treasures.  He ask what they are and I tell him, of course he wants it as does sister Cannan.  You know I can't say no.  So now they are both walking around with miner lights on their foreheads.  I got a text message that night from their Dad saying that it looked like a light saber match in progress in their bedroom, about an hour after than I got a second text saying they were still up and he was just hoping the F&%$#ng batteries would run out. Good thing it was late and he was to tired to drive over and beat me up.  Hee hee, the joys of being a granny.

I went to Tatum's school today to surprise her and have lunch together.  I came armed with a small cheese pizza some fruit and apple juice.  She was happy to see me but wanted to go thru the line and get her lunch, I had heard from her Mommy that she was eating a lot of baked potatoes and sure enough that was her choice.  She looked so grown up with the other kindergartners.  Even if she wasn't interested in the pizza some of her classmates were, she made a lot of friends with several of the little boys.  We held hands and walked out of lunch with the others in her class and I left her to go to her next class......to big, to soon too sad.

I have started packing my house for the sale, there are some things I wish I couldn't do and unfortunately I am a pretty good packer, I have had plenty of practice and I am to cheap to hire a mover to do what I am capable of doing myself.  A lot of my things are going to The Last Resort and other than some clothes and personals the rest of my things are going to storage.  I am also giving away "stuff" that the Resort doesn't need and I don't want.  Feels good to lighten the load.

While I was going thru some furniture I came across my Grandmothers obituary.  It made me smile and I want to share it.

On April 28th at 10 a.m. family and friends gathered to celebrate a life.  Jennie Lorenen McBride Tatum passed from this earth on April 26, 2007 at Green Acres Nursing Home.  She was born in Davis, Oklahoma on August 18, 1909 to Jim and Ida Mae Mcbride.

She was sister to Jessie, Dellar, Myrtle and Lillie.  She was Mother to Bobbie Jo and monster-in-law to Vandell Oler and Douglas Fenter.  Along the way she mothered four grand kids: Jeannette, Johnny, Jackie and Jeannine; three step-grands: Judy, Susie and Danny; 13 great-grands, 15 great-great-grands and two great-great-great-grands.  WOW!  There may be more, if you were left out, contact us.

Jennie lived a full life that was filled with joy and abundance.  At  97 she all used up and slid into her grave with a smile on her face saying, "Wow, what a ride!"

We know not one soul that had the love of life and pure day-to-day joy that Granny did.  She made every day count.  She might not have been the best housekeeper, buy you were always welcome, the best cook, but you always left the table full or the best seamstress in the county but here quilts would keep you warm.   Outside was always more fun than inside and the garden was more fun than washing dishes, the cows and chickens were more fun than washing clothes but nothing was more important than family.

Granny had a wonderful style all her own.  She wore shorts when grandmothers didn't but she was the coolest granny because she knew when and where to wear them.  Granny was never considered prim and proper, but who wants prim and proper when you can have a "Fatty" as Grandpa called her. Buster loved Fatty and Fatty loved Buster.  Bobbie Joe didn't have just a mother, she had a best friend and someone to help raise her four young'ns. "I love you" was a phase reserved for Buster and Bobbie, and although we knew we were loved by her, she never singled us out by telling us so.  Her response was "And I think a lot of you kids, too."

This was not a sad passing of a loved one - it was a celebration of a life well lived.

Everyone will miss Jennie, but after a brief sense of loss all the memories will flood over us and they will be relived and passed on for many years to come.  No sorrow, only joy in the knowledge that we were able to share her amazing life's journey.

We loved you Granny, and we know you thought a lot of us kids too.

R.I.P.  Granny Jennie   You were loved

Good nigh to all

PUBLIC INDECENCY

A Parents Finest Hour

You just have to love children they are so innocent.  Take tonight as an example.  I went to dinner with Cole, Tara and the kids.  We had our dinner on an outside patio and had finished our meal, we were enjoying winding down and the kids were making wishes putting pennies in the fountain and being as sweet as a 4 and 5 year old can be.  From our table we had a great view of the entire patio,  the sidewalk and stores that surround it.  Cole had gotten up to talk to someone and Tara and I were still at the table when I see a horrified look on Tara's face. Cross, my 5 year old grandson, had gone to the curb to relieve his self in the street, it was obvious that he had been holding it a   l o n g  time.  Okay folks what do you do?  You cannot make him stop in mid stream, you cannot scream at him for fear he will turn and hose down anyone near him, you have to let him finish........it took forever.

After he finished, Cole raced to him and almost scared another bodily function out of him by pulling up his pants at light speed.  Cole lead him back to our table so mom could explain to him the finer points of dinning in public and let him know that it was not his job to entertain the other patrons. While mom is doing this dad is apologizing to the other outside diners and passing shoppers.  I am just hoping I can keep from snorting my margarita out my nose.  Tara also takes this opportunity to tell dad that sharing a bathroom break with their son in the great outdoor of their backyard might not be such a good idea and to please put a stop to it......look what it has led to.  I wish her good luck with that.  I am surprised that we do not see this more often, as my experience has been that whenever there is fresh air......I was about to say green grass or trees abut I think only fresh air is a requirement, men are going to take advantage of it or at least take a leak in it.

 Cole and Tara do have a daughter, who loves her daddy and is very headstrong.......this could get really interesting.  Monkey see monkey do.

This got me to thinking about my boys when they were young, there was a lot of tinkle time Al fresco  in our yard and on the farm, but to my recollections no public bathroom breaks.

Maybe kids these days are just not as uptight as we were growing up.......I can't wait to take Cross to the ballet....this could be fun.  Granny can always blame it on their upbringing.

I did bring the kids home with me to spend the night, as I type they are both in my bed and I am heading to the guest room.  I sure hope my bed is dry in the morning.


Sweet dreams