Jim's Tribute to Judi

So tired

I'm watching the boys for a week while Cherlyn's out of town. Tonight's the third night and I'm already exhausted. Part of that is because I'm sick . . . well, I'm sure most of it is because I'm sick. Much is happening, but, frankly, I can't think of anything to write. I'll feel a bit more inspired later. Might be after the new year. I love new beginnings, a clean slate.

I have photos to post as well. Later. Sleep now. Just some sleep.

Little Orphant Annie (The Goblins'll Get You If You Don't Watch Out!)

A poem my Grandma learned as a little girl, that she can still recite by memory. She's 96.

LITTLE ORPHANT ANNIE

INSCRIBED
WITH ALL FAITH AND AFFECTION
To all the little children: - The happy ones; and sad ones;
The sober and the silent ones; the boisterous and glad ones;
The good ones - Yes, the good ones, too; and all the lovely
bad ones.



Little Orphant Annie's come to our house to stay,
An' wash the cups an' saucers up, an' brush the crumbs away,
An' shoo the chickens off the porch, an' dust the hearth, an'
sweep,
An' make the fire, an' bake the bread, an' earn her board-
an-keep;
An' all us other childern, when the supper-things is done,
We set around the kitchen fire an' has the mostest fun,
A-listenin' to the witch-tales 'at Annie tells about,
An' the Gobble-uns 'at gits you
Ef you
Don't
Watch
Out!



Wunst they wuz a little boy wouldn't say his prayers, -
An' when he went to bed at night, away up-stairs,
His Mammy heerd him holler, an' his Daddy heerd him bawl,
An' when they turn't the kivvers down, he wuzn't there at
all!
An' they seeked him in the rafter-room, an' cubby-hole, an'
press,
An seeked him up the chimbly-flue, an' ever'-wheres, I guess;
But all they ever found wuz thist his pants an' roundabout: -
An' the Gobble-uns 'll git you
Ef you
Don't
Watch
Out!

An' one time a little girl 'ud allus laugh an' grin,
An' make fun of ever' one, an' all her blood-an'-kin;
An' wunst, when they was "company," an' ole folks wuz there,
She mocked 'em an' shocked 'em, an' said she didn't care!
An' thist as she kicked her heels, an' turn't to run an'
hide,
They wuz two great big Black Things a-standin' by her side,
An' they snatched her through the ceilin' 'for she knowed
what she's about!
An' the Gobble-uns 'll git you
Ef you
Don't
Watch
Out!

An' little Orphant Annie says, when the blaze is blue,
An' the lamp-wick sputters, an' the wind goes woo-oo!
An' you hear the crickets quit, an' the moon is gray,
An' the lightnin'bugs in dew is all squenched away, -
You better mind yer parunts, an' yer teachurs fond an' dear,
An' cherish them 'at loves you, an' dry the orphant's tear,
An' he'p the pore an' needy ones 'at clusters all about,
Er the Gobble-uns 'll git you
Ef you
Don't
Watch
Out!

I spent the day cleaning up the living room and thought I'd post a few vignettes. Nothing fancy, here they are.

Rome Map, Take Two

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Rome

I'm helping my sister plan her trip to Italy.  
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Red, White & Blue Challenge

I Heart Faces is doing a challenge this week on Red, White & Blue.  I thought I'd post a few of my 4th photos.  

Willits Frontier Days ended yesterday with the 4th of July parade, the huge community barbecue, the last rodeo (oldest continuously running rodeo in the state of California!) and the close of the carnival.  It drew in people from all over, just as it has for the last 85 years.   

REAL cowboys.  Lee Persico, on the left, performed at the 1939 World's Fair with his pony, Buck.  

Willits Horsemen's Association

The American Legion honored just a few of our local military kids.  Thank you to those who choose to serve their country in this way!!

My 4th consisted of riding along with my police officer husband (he was working OT) on the evening of the 3rd and then again on the 4th.  Life is good in a small town.

And . . . for my last little bit of red, white and blue . . .

Mazahar's patriotic frillies.

For more 4th of July photos from 2009 and 2010, take a look at posts tagged "Frontier Days."

Happy July, everyone.

68 Inches

I woke up with a hint of a spark in my soul and that's very, very good.  What woke me up was something I am completely unaccustomed to.  It was sunlight coming through a window directly into my eyes.  It was glorious.  I couldn't figure out why everything seemed so dull, so dreary, so full of drudgery.  Now I know.  And now I know that it's coming to an end.  I feel as though I'm emerging from a fog.  A long, wet, dreary, grey fog.

We've had 68 inches of rain since mid-October.  SIXTY-EIGHT!  And now, all of a sudden, we have sunshine and temperatures in the 80's. It's glorious.  It's warm.  It's sunny.  The sky is blue.  You can SEE the sky!  It's still soggy around here but at least we're finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.  We still have rainy days ahead, but now they'll be interspersed with sunny days and warmer temperatures.  Did I mention we've had 68 inches of rain since mid-October?  :o)

Not only have we had a lot of rain this year, we had about 5 or 6 inches of snow in about 5 hours just a week or two ago.  Phenomenal.  Really.  Bizarre and phenomenal.

But that's ok, because springtime appears to finally be upon us.  The spark has been re-ignited.

   

Jim's tribute to Judi

Jim talked a bit about Judi. (The graveside ceremony is the post just before this one.)

Here's the video:

Judi Buchfuehrer's graveside service

Following (in two parts) is the video taken at Judi Buchfuehrer's Orthodox funeral.

Cheryl

A dear friend went Home today.  Rest in our Savior's arms, Cheryl.  I love you.

Counting My Blessings Giveaway

One of these days I'll actually have some time to get on here and write something but, for now at least, this will have to suffice.  It's quiet here as the husband has gone to bed and the granddaughter is asleep in the next room.  I have a few moments to myself to look over some old blogs and discover new ones.  This one's a new one to me and I think I'm really going to enjoy her.  She's doing a cool giveaway so check it out.  You might like her, too.

I'm HOPING HOPING HOPING that my middle daughter will finish her moving out this weekend so I can tame some of this chaos.  Next weekend is the baby shower for my youngest and her 4 week premature daughter and the weekend after is a "sissies weekend" with my sisters up in Oregon to see my folks.  Things are moving along, but very slowly.

I'm . . .

A Grandma again!! Hallie Rae was born on February 2 to my youngest and her husband. Photos to follow because things are busy because . . .

We're empty nesters again!! Middle daughter and granddaughter moved out at the same time resulting in my house being in a total state of chaos.

At some time in the future, things will be "normal" again. For now, I'm plodding along trying to organize, rearrange and not forget all those wonderful ideas that keep popping up and then disappearing before I can write them down. Yes, that will be one of my changes. Must get paper next to wherever I am.

Time Zooming By

I've got to get myself some sort of a schedule. I feel like my day is zooming past me and I'm not feeling like I'm accomplishing much. Time to take charge.

Speaking of taking charge, Katie and Emma are moving out! It's about the best (in my opinion) it can be. They'll be just four houses down the street. It makes for a pretty good safety net for them. We'll see how it goes but I'm excited for them and I'm excited for us. That means that pretty much the next week (ha!) or so will be filled with rearranging furniture and rooms. Mike will hate it.

Cleaning!!

Purging, cleaning, straightening, organizing; it can be really rewarding, but, at the same time, tiring.  I started tackling our bedroom today.  It needs to be presentable for the inspector for when we finally get the permit to have it.  That's a good thing since it's been there for 14 years.  Our bedroom is huge so I moved a big bookcase today to partition it off somewhat.  Tomorrow, I'll try to go through the stuff that belongs in the shelves and make it look better than it does now.  Unfortunately, what it ends up looking like and what I envision in my head rarely ever match.  Maybe someday.

Some to-do's for tomorrow:

Cards in month folders

upload photos from camera

switch big desk with tall bookcase (BIG job, LOTS of stuff in both)

pay bills

vacuum living room

put covers on chairs and couch

figure out what to put in which storage areas

put the rest of the Christmas stuff in the attic

start posting photos on the blog

get photos transferred to Aperture Library (since we're talking 100,000+ photos, this is another big job)

Off to bed so I can get a fresh start tomorrow.

2011

Happy New Year!  Husband starts Days tomorrow (first time in a year!!) so I will finally get a chance to work in our bedroom.  I'm thrilled.  He's not.  All I need is one rotation.  I should be able to resurrect the room in four months.  A Blessed Eve of Epiphany to you all!