Mom's Story - Installment #19

Here is is, the end of August already. Today Bill is 70 years young. I asked him how it felt to be 70 and his answer was, "Not much different than last night when I was 69." Duh! I guess that was a dumb question to start with.

It's time for another part of Mom's story so here it is. We're nearing the end, so I hope you've enjoyed it.

This is October 8^th, 2005. Fall is here but it still feels like summer. I went to the dentist and had my black stomach tooth pulled Friday morning. The dentist said it needed to be pulled before putting in the new partial upper plate. That night we went to a singing at a little Indian church, and then Saturday we went to Idabel to the Free Will Baptist Church where Eden Gospel Bluegrass was playing. We ate afterwards and got home about 10:00 PM. My face was swelled and had a big red spot on it where the tooth was pulled. I got some pain pills that helped and by the next Friday, it was fine.

I’m looking forward to Thanksgiving as Donna and Wil, and Greg and family and Connie are all coming. Connie flew into Ft. Smith and Donna and Wil timed their arrival to pick her up, so they all arrived on Nov. 19^th. It was a really nice day. Greg and Dawn and the girls didn’t get here until the following Monday.

On Tuesday evening the kids gave me a surprise birthday party. Donna got my birthday ring fixed and gave it to me. Dawn and Greg gave me a housecoat, Connie – 4 CD set called “Tuesdays with Morrie”. Joan gave me three star shaped candles to put in my room, and then Donna gave me a box with all the love letters in from Les. After we got done, Bill hooked up the slide projector and we watched a lot of our old slides. It was really fun to see the grandchildren when they were little. Molly and Maddie really got a kick out of that.

Wednesday Bert and Kim came up from Conroe, TX to spend Thanksgiving with us. We had a good Thanksgiving dinner, and then Friday morning after breakfast Greg and family and Donna & Wil left for home. Bert and Kim stayed for lunch and then they left for Texas.

That's it for this time.

JB

Mom's Story - Installment #18

Well, it's time once again for some more of Mom's story. We've had some good rain, and now are enjoying some wonderfully cool temperatures. For August in Oklahoma, this is really a BIG deal. We were burning up a couple weeks ago with 100+ temperatures, so this is a welcome relief.

So, enjoy some more of Mom's story. I'm afraid we're getting close to the end.

JB

Now it’s Memorial Day weekend. There’s lots of traffic and we had a nice rain. On Saturday we went to the Italian Fest in McAlester Oklahoma. I called Mr. & Mrs. Tom Hathcoat and they met us there. We had spaghetti and meatballs, garlic bread, and salad. Bill walked around the grounds and Joan and Carolyn looked at the crafts. Tom and I were slow going so we sat under the tent and listened to the bluegrass music and visited. We were glad to see each other. He was glad to meet Bill and Joan also.

I hurt the next day so didn’t do much all day.

On June 5^th. we went to the Octavia Church, and then came home and picked strawberries. We froze a lot and made 3 batches of jam. Then on Tuesday night we went to the monthly singing in Mena. We got home about 10:00 o’clock. Joan is teaching the Books of the Bible at Day Camp. My leg still hurts. Dr, Maxwell gave me some medicine for it and I have to go back in July.

Got a note from Donna that the people didn’t take the farm, and also that Greg and Dawn were in their new house. However, I found out that Tom Wiedmeyer wanted the farm. I was so happy because I wanted him to have it all along. He’d been renting the land from us for a long time already.

The end of August there was a big hurricane in New Orleans. Katrina. I watched the news on TV and it looked so terrible. So many people are out of their homes. One lady came to this area and stayed with us a couple nights while she decided where to go and what to do. Her home was gone and she couldn’t even get back in the area to check on her pets that had to be left behind.

On the 3^rd. of Sept., Sunday afternoon, the helicopter stopped across the road. They loaded a lady from church who had had a massive stroke. They took her to Ft. Smith where she died. I was very sad as I liked Ramona a lot. The funeral was on Wednesday. Joan had to play for it and sing a song.

Well, that's it for this time.

Mom's Story - Installment #17

Well, I haven't posted anything for a couple weeks now. Sorry about that! Last week I was sick and didn't do ANYTHING for a few days. Thankfully, I'm back among the living and about over the cold, snotty nose, croupy cough, etc., etc.

And then last Friday afternoon our pastor's dad died suddenly. He and Bill were pretty good friends and it really hit him hard. We went over to see the family Sunday after church, and then the funeral was this past Wednesday. They lived over in Arkansas just across the Oklahoma line, so it was a good hour's drive from here. They had 12 children, so there was a lot of family at the funeral. It was a very different kind of service, but Ed's dad was a very unique person, and the service suited him perfectly. The sons and grandsons had gotten busy and built his casket out of red cedar planks he had in his workshop. It was all a real labor of love.

So, things have been a little crazy the past couple weeks. School started here yesterday, so now things will get back on schedule somewhat. Hope you enjoy this next part of Mom's story.

Joan

On the first of May, 2005, Joan took me to Wisconsin to get more clothes. I had to sell the farm and move to Oklahoma for good. My back and legs hurt so much and I didn’t pick up my feet far enough so I stumbled over rocks and bumps. So from then on I was living with Joan. That Sunday, May 1^st., after lunch, we drove to Lebanon, MO. and had supper and slept in a Super 8. Had Chinese food at the restaurant across the street. We left in the morning after we had breakfast in the motel, and got to Rockford the middle of the afternoon, and then slept in Illinois. We got to Campbellsport Tuesday afternoon, went to the cemetery, got groceries, and started packing.

The phone didn’t work too good so Joan called Bill on cell phone. We went to the Baptist church on Sunday, Mother’s Day. I treated my family to dinner at the Campbellsport Inn. Greg and Dawn and girls came to dinner also. We had to wait so long to get served. Then we went to the farm to look things over and had Manwich for supper. Donna made a chocolate torte which was very good.

On Monday, May 9^th., 2005 we went to Maddie and Molly’s dance recital. They look like little movie stars. They did well and after the recital we went to see Greg & Dawn’s new place. They just bought it and weren’t moved in yet. It’s big and very nice. The kids have cats to play with.

Tuesday we packed and I went to the doctor and got my pills at the drug store. We kept packing, taking pictures down off the walls, and had lots of company to see our packed boxes. We sent several boxes with UPS.

On Thursday Wil came over and we washed our bedding and then left for Oklahoma at 11:00 AM. I gave Wil the garage door opener that was in my car. We got as far as Bloomington, IL, when the brake cylinder got hot. We had to be towed into a Ford garage for repairs. We stayed at a Super 8 and Friday noon the car was ready to go. It worked fine the rest of the way home.

We got to Oklahoma about 3:00 PM the next day. We were very tired. It took me a week to recuperate. Bill helped unload the car. He had sore knees but worked anyway. Joan made me return address stickers with my new address on them. I had to write lots of notes. By the 20^th. of May we were picking lots of strawberries to eat and freeze.

Donna and Helen Medinger held a big rummage sale up in the hay barn for all the stuff that wasn’t sold to the auction place in Waubeka. Some of the furniture was sold before we left for Oklahoma and the kids all came over and picked out what they wanted to have. The auction and the rummage sale both did real good.

Well, "that's all folks".