STOP

Please come back later to read my new post below. First go read Ralphs blog about Flag 2172. It will be time well spent.

A View From the Porch

It's been a while since I did a view from the porch. This is my daughter and granddaughter horsing around. Pic was taken about a month ago. The animals they're sitting on are part of the herd that is eating my retirement. The one on the left I call Stocks and the one on the right is Mutual Funds.

Jill! Show Him Your Pa.

About 10 years ago, I was asked to take a bus load of kids to Oakland to play basketball. Oakland is 14 miles west of Tekamah. It was a Jr High basketball game.
As the kids were loading, the coach said "Dean said you'd be able to handle the team and the 8th grade cheerleaders by yourself, the other coach will be there when you get there". Dean was the Superintendant and has been a friend of mine since he moved here in the early 70's. I thought that sounded okay. I never did have any discipline problems as a bus driver, and didn't expect any then.
I had to drive the fully loaded 48 passenger bus, west, into the setting sun. The highway was very narrow at that time. I had noticed a truck behind me all the way to Oakland. I was so carefully concentrating on not letting a tire slip off the edge of the pavement, and trying constantly to not be blinded by the sun, that I didn't really notice anything abnormal happening behind me in the bus, and the few times I looked in the big rear view mirror, things were fine.
I heard some comments from the boys like, "Do you think he saw it, Jill"? (Jill is not her real name) or "Jill, show him your pa". What the heck are they holding up back there. It must have something to do with the truck driver. But I've got about 48 Million Dollars worth of school kids on this bus, I thought, and musn't break my concentration. "Jill, show him your pa again". Several times over "Jill, show him your pa again".
Well I finally made it. The ball team was met by the coach, who escorted them into the building. The cheerleaders also went single file into the gym. I sat there a few minutes, reflecting over the battle I had just won with the sun as well as to let the diesel cool a bit. Then I thought I may as well watch these 7th and 8th grade boys play basketball. I went to the far end of the gym, away from the cheerleaders and the grandparents. Sat there thru 3 quarters. At the 3rd period break, the cheerleaders spread across the gym for the 'Two Bits, Four Bits, Six Bits... yell. Jill was in front of me and as she twirled and swung her cute little figure in a circle,, "All for Tekamah stand up and Holler". Her flippy little dress flipped up in back to reveal her shiny gold, cheerleader issue, undies, with the symbol of the Fighting Tigers embroidered on her rear. A Tigers PAW! Jill, show him your Paw!
It's truly amazing how just a little more information can make your mind race back over the events of the day. I had wondered, right up until that moment, why that truck driver didn't just pass us. I was only going 50. The cheerleaders rode home with their parents. Good idea.

The Main Thing

I've always tried live by the old saying, "The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing".
However, regardless of how busy you are, or what trajedy has over taken your life,,,, a grasshopper landing on your face, will become your new top priority.

Marilyn's Pole Beans

We bend these 4 X 16 foot panels in a hoop and stake the ends to the ground. Marilyn plants her pole beans along the bottom. The beans grow up the panels and connect at the top. One of our granddaughters is pictured here, sitting with a kitty in the shade of the beans. See the pic below for the result.

The results. Beans hanging down at eye level, ready for harvest.

A Must Read

For anyone interested in the Hurricane and it's coverage, you should read this blog by Rhodent. She lives in Florida, is well educated in hurricane and disaster preparedness, and will give you straight up info that you won't get from the networks who are trying to guide your thinking instead of just reporting.
Rhodent is one of my regular stops and will be one of yours after you read this.

Needy?

Unlike some charities, The American Baptist Convention is asking for specific items to be sent. I believe they send different lists to different areas. Our State is collecting them at the Ne. State Convention next weekend and trucking them to affiliated churches in the Katrina ravaged areas, for further distribution.
My wife wanted me to take the list and go to the store to pick-up what we could afford to donate. I looked at the list and recognized it immediately. I needed to buy three of everything. Two to send and one to bring home. We too, were out of all of these things.

The Battle of Cliff Run!

Dateline, Tekamah
In what some are calling a battle to the death and others a show of cowardice, Cowboy Cliff and his band of cowboys were virtually wiped out by Grandson Chief Colton, leader of the eastern Nebraska tribe.
It was a warm, but humid morning, a day like many others, here in the path of the ancient explorers, Lewis and Clark. The cowboys were innocently watching TV when the waring Chief C said those words every cowboy dreads. "Hey Grandpa, wanna play cowboys and indians"? "Okay".
Historians will record that the word 'OKAY' was the turning point of the battle.
The cowboys were in fact, armed with only guns, and what Chief Colton would allow them to have,,, A John Deere tractor and baler.
The savvy Chief retained control of the U.S Army tank and the wrecker.
The battle raged for minutes and when all of the cowboys had been assaulted and had succumbed to the hand to hand combat of the Chief, their plight seemed hopeless. Then there was what seemed to be 'A Miracle'. In the sky was a streak , a real life Heroine to save the day! Grandpa had summoned WONDER WOMAN. She was on target, flying at a speed faster than Grandma drives, when she was stopped with the powerful hand of Chief Colton who brought the battle to a close with the words,,,"she didn't come with the set Grandpa".
The cowboys then summoned a miraculous storm that blew over some of the indians. But the indians were set back up immediately with a stern warning from the Chief,,, "And no 'funderstorms' Grandpa!
All of the wranglers lost their lives in the above clash. Not one Indian was injured, and they never even had to use the tank or the wrecker.
Cowboy Cliff survived and promised to round up some more cowboys to fight again. Chief Colton, showing the kind of class we've all grown to love, showed no ill feelings toward the cowboys when he said, "Wanna play some Lego's now"?

Kids Say The Darndest Things!

My first grader grandson has been working on a diary at school.
Yesterday, his mom asked "So, how's your diary coming"?
He replied, "Oh, I was loose yesterday, but I'm okay today".