It's been 20 years!

Just wanted to share this photo of Nathan and Daniel
sitting on the stone retaining wall at an event Saturday.

Nathan's wife Traci coordinated an event for the owner
of a large landscaping event. A Press Party to be exact.
There was also a press get together on Thursday evening
that had wine and appetizers and cool stuff.

This landscaping contractor does lots of "barter"
work and Traci and he were bartering their skills.

Here's the point of the photo. Nathan is sporting a new
coif! His new job required a "conservative" hair cut, so
last week he had his locks shorn. A really great look
on a really great guy!

Another headline I missed!

Isn't it sad the media can tell us all about the crap that goes on, but ignores the GOOD people. If a movie star or politician stubs their toe or rants four letter words we have to hear about it for days!

Pamela Murphy, widow of WWII hero and actor, Audie Murphy, died peacefully at her home on April 8, 2010. She was the widow of the most decorated WWII hero and actor, Audie Murphy, and established her own distinctive 35 year career working as a patient liaison at the Sepulveda Veterans Administration hospital, treating every veteran who visited the facility as if they were a VIP.
Any soldier or Marine who came into the hospital got the same special treatment from her. She would walk the hallways with her clipboard in hand making sure her boys got to see the specialist they needed.
If they didn't, watch out. Her boys weren't Medal of Honor recipients or movie stars like Audie, but that didn't matter to Pam. They had served their country. That was good enough for her. She never called a veteran by his first name. It was always "Mister." Respect came with the job.
"Nobody could cut through VA red tape faster than Mrs. Murphy," said veteran Stephen Sherman, speaking for thousands of veterans she befriended over the years. "Many times I watched her march a veteran who had been waiting more than an hour right into the doctor's office. She was even reprimanded a few times, but it didn't matter to Mrs. Murphy. "Only her boys mattered. She was our angel."
Audie Murphy died broke in a plane crash in 1971, squandering millions of dollars on gambling, bad investments, and yes, other women. "Even with the adultery and desertion at the end, he always remained my hero," Pam told me.
She went from a comfortable ranch-style home in Van Nuys where she raised two sons to a small apartment - taking a clerk's job at the nearby VA to support herself and start paying off her faded movie star husband's debts. At first, no one knew who she was. Soon, though, word spread through the VA that the nice woman with the clipboard wasAudie Murphy's widow. It was like saying General Patton had just walked in the front door. Men with tears in their eyes walked up to her and gave her a hug.
"Thank you," they said, over and over.
The first couple of years, I think the hugs were more for Audie's memory as a war hero. The last 30 years, they were for Pam.
One year I asked her to be the focus of a Veteran's Day column for all the work she had done. Pam just shook her head no.
"Honor them, not me," she said, pointing to a group of veterans down the hallway. "They're the ones who deserve it."
The vets disagreed. Mrs. Murphy deserved the accolades, they said. Incredibly, in 2002, Pam's job was going to be eliminated in budget cuts. She was considered "excess staff." "I don't think helping cut down on veterans' complaints and showing them the respect they deserve, should be considered excess staff," she told me. Neither did the veterans. They went ballistic, holding a rally for her outside the VA gates. Pretty soon, word came down from the top of the VA. Pam Murphy was no longer considered "excess staff."
She remained working full time at the VA until 2007 when she was 87.
"The last time she was here was a couple of years ago for the conference we had for homeless veterans," said Becky James, coordinator of the VA's Veterans History Project. Pam wanted to see if there was anything she could do to help some more of her boys. Pam Murphy was 90 when she died last week.

What a lady.

Thank you Linda (of Louisville) for sending this to me.

Do you remember?

I was just reading through an old cookbook, waiting for 9:00 to come so I could put Daniel to bed with books.I sat bolt upright. There was a recipe for WallPaper Cleaner.

I remember cleaning wallpaper in the spring and the fall of the year when I was growing up. The stuff we used came in a can and it was green. Some of it was pink but I only remember the green.

It was the consistency of "Play Dough". I can almost sell it now! We would labor long and hard to clean the whole house from ceilings to floors. You rolled it in the shape of a sausage roll and "rolled" is down the walls.

Now that wall coverings are "vinyl coated" we just wash the stuff down (or not).

Ah, I remember it well!

Hmmmm

An older couple is lying in bed one morning.
They had just awakened from a good night's sleep
He takes her hand and she responds, 'Don't touch me."
'Why not?' he asked.
She answered, 'Because I'm dead.
The husband asked...'What are you talking about?
We're both lying here in bed together and talking to one another!'
She said, 'No, I'm definitely dead.'
He insisted, 'You are not dead. What in the world makes you think you're dead?'
'Because I woke up this morning and nothing hurts.'

"No More ZZZZZZZZZZ's"

The Cavs just lost another player. What the hey?
Z is going to the Miami Heat.
I am not a basketball fan. But, how interesting.
Danny Ferry must have told Dave Gilbert that LeBron was leaving, so they had a difference of opinion and Danny left.
Then LeBron left for the sun and fun (even $30 Million could not keep him here)
He quit playing in the game with Boston, that's how bad he wanted to leave the snow
behind.
Championship my butt!
Sun and Fun (bikini clad girls) is more like it!
LeBron can't make a commitment! My opinion. If he could, he would give legitimacy
to his children!

Now Z!

This is becoming a habit!

Growing by leaps and bounds!

What a difference a year makes. Daniel is shown below this time last year in his wading pool and on the right is a few days ago after a "swim" in his new alligator pool.

He has been accepted at the Buckeye School System starting Kindergarden in the fall.

Whew! The days are flying by and I am trying to enjoy each and every one.

"Let's Do Lunch"!

Daniel is spending the day and after enjoying the

merits of his new wading pool, (The alligator has water blowing up in a spray from between his eyes) with some toys, we decided is was time for a little picnic lunch.

As you can see, his friend Toby was invited to join him!

I'm sick of hearing about him!

Number "23", shut up!

Stay or go, but please shut up! I can't believe with all the strife, joy, poverty, blessings and eveything in between, that the media is consumed with LeBron James!

I am not a sports fan. I am not a Cavs fan, and now, I sure as hell am not a LeBron fan. A one hour special on HBO to announce his plans for his future career in basketball?

Give me a break!

Perhaps he should put a "For Sale" sign on his lawn, pack up his two children, his girlfriend, his mother and family and move out of town. Afterall, there are far worse things that could happen in Cleveland as far as I am concerned.

He's not running the country, he's just running the city!

The view from the patio door

Kelly works for Sarah at the Farm. Someone gave Kelly's children rabbits. The rabbits did what rabbits do .. so there were progeny. Ten days ago, Kelly showed me three bunnies that she had brought to work and put them in an empty stall for the day at the barn. Her plan, since they were all three males who when picked up clawed your arms with their back legs, had to find new accomodations. Sarah's farm field perhaps. No, thought I, something would get them right off the bat, as there is no cover for them out there. So I suggested Kelly bring them up to our house and turn them loose behind our barn which is adjacent to a large wood pile, trees with ground cover and fence rows loaded with vegetation cover.

Duh!

Well they are alive and well and living around my house, under my horse trailer, the other pickup truck, flower beds, under the bird feeder and having a gay ole' time to boot.
Three bunnies, two white ones and one brown with a little white tail.

Flopsy, Mopsy and Cottontail. Sigh! What will I feed them this winter (you know I will feed them this winter)? I will research rabbit pellets and go from there. They seem to be thriving and are pretty precocious. This is the view this morning from my rear patio sliding door.

I think it is Flopsy...or maybe Mopsy...I know Collontail is the brown one!
Neighbors, guard your green beans!

to match his eyes.

My friend Ruthie who lives in Texas called me Wed. a.m. With a tearful voice she told me that her youngest son was found dead that morning. Cause of death....unknown.
Clifford W. McFee Jr., was only 31 years old.

Ruthie and her husband G drove straight through to Ohio from Denton, Texas and arrived yesterday to make the final arrangements for a son.

When Tim and I arrived at the funeral home this evening, she escorted me to the open casket and said "look at this beautiful blue shirt". "I sent my sister to the store to buy a new shirt for him to wear in the casket. I told her to be sure it was blue to match Cliff's eyes".

She turned to me and said "I forgot that his eyes would be closed".

God rest his soul.

And God help Ruthie through her grief.