Mourning the passing of my sister's youth...

HAPPY 40TH BIRTHDAY, RENITA!!! :)
I love you!
Your YOUNGEST sister! ;)

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to the BEST MOM!!!
Thank you for teaching, by example, how to be a wonderful Mother, Wife and Friend...and for your example in unconditional love! I love you, Mom!!

Snow Days

We'll we haven't heard an official number for our town, but we think we ended up getting about 16 inches of snow (on top of about 1-2 inches of sleet).
A town 30 miles west of us got 28 inches, but then a town 30 miles east of us got 7...so 16 may be close to right for us.

I didn't venture out too far, but this is a picture standing on one of our porches....there are three steps up to this porch...you can only see the tip-top of the top step.



The puppies LOVED our weekend of being "snowed-in". :)



There were snow drifts 4-6 feet deep. Our local grocery store closed, as their roof collapsed due to the heavy snow, as did the roof at the local Activity Center. Our neighbor, three homes down, has a collapsed carport (on top of their vehicle). So far, we haven't heard of any of our properties being damaged. We'll try to venture out, this afternoon, and check them .. it's suppose to get into the low 40's today - so we're hoping for lots of melting! :)

Spring Blizzard

We were to leave today, about noon, to head to Dallas for a quick trip to say our GoodBye's to Charlus' brother and family. They are flying out of DFW, on Sunday evening, to move from Indiana to Argentina, for 2-3 years with his job. Blizzard conditions were expected and they hit today about 10 AM.
The below photo was taken from about 40 feet away from the vehicle...visibility was LOW...8-15 inches expected by Saturday afternoon...WINDY, and sleeting and snowing hard. (Don't think I've ever seen snowflakes this big & heavy.) So, with the bad weather (and the long drive through the bad weather)and the incident posted below, we decided we better decide to stay home. We hated to miss seeing them before they leave, but glad we got to be with them in January. Think the company will fly them back to the U.S. a couple of times a year, so we hope to see them on one of those trips. :)
Meanwhile, we'll be holed-up at home...trying to stay warm and safe!
Hope all of you are having prettier, warmer weather!

Where not to get your oil changed!

Charlus decided to try out the new oil change shop, in our town, this morning about 10:30 or 11 o'clock. He likes to give business to the new local businesses...there are other oil change shops in town.
He said he heard the guy raise his truck all the way up on the lift, and then heard a bunch of metal noise, and then this guy let about 45 seconds of expletitives out. So, Charlus decided to leave the waiting room and go out and see what was going on.... His 2008 Chevy 3/4 ton diesel truck had fallen off the lift!!!!
Charlus was VERY glad the man hadn't been under it, as he had just walked under it to get the oil pan, and just as he got to the other side the truck fell!
The truck is pretty bent & bunged up, there's a hole through one side, etc Not sure when they will get it out...insurance companies, the people that installed the lift, etc have to come see it first.
I am so glad if it had to happen to anyone that it happened to my husband! He is the most kind, most patient man I know...and he was very understanding & sympathetic to the shop owner.
Just had to share the pictures, and the story, with you all! :)

"Roughing-It"?

Charlus & I decided to take a day off for much needed "R&R", this weekend. There is a nice state lake park about 20 miles from us...so we loaded up our puppies & the fifth wheel and went out Friday evening, and came home on Saturday evening. It was nice to just get away, even for just 24 hours. :)
I really don't consider it "camping", in a fifth wheel...comfy bed, kitchen, toilet, shower, etc....but it's our kind of "roughing it". :)

We parked right by the water. There were a couple of other campers that had ventured out this weekend, too. Now, we see there is snow in our forecast for Friday...so we may have to winterize the trailer again. :)


We took lots of walks on the trails...the puppies loved it!! This was the position assumed by CJB and the puppies when we were in the trailer...ahh, relaxation! :)

Turkey Talk

Wild turkeys are pretty common in these parts...hunters come from all around to hunt them. In the mornings, I drive to the high school track .... this morning on my way, I counted 15 turkeys. I sat in my car & rolled my window down, was fun to hear them "gobble". They scrambled pretty quickly when I stopped to take their picture.

My Hubby

My husband seems to be in the local newspaper quite often...and has become pretty good friends with the newspaper ladies. :) They have learned, from him, that he likes his articles to be "front page, top of the fold"...so when they have an article about him, that is exactly where they put it! :)
This week, the following article was in our weekly local newspaper and I wanted to share it.

Congratulations, Charlus!! I am proud of you!!!

** Click on article to enlarge & read **