Pet Peeve

Pet Peeve

Another one of my pet peeves are people who park in handicapped parking places just because they are driving someone else’s vehicle with a handicap plate or mirror hangtag, that doesn’t mean that they are legally parked while in the handicapped space! On one occasion I was walking out of a supermarket when a pickup with a handicap plate on it pulled into a handicap parking space. A man of about 35 years old and 2 young boys, one about 12 years old and the other about 8, or 9 years old got out of the truck. The younger boy asked his dad if he was supposed to park there the dad said, “That’s ok, that’s grandpa’s truck.” Like the truck was handicapped? I’ve seen people pull into a handicap space and the driver jumps out and run into the store while the handicapped person sits in the vehicle and waits. I know a young lady that would barrow her grandmother’s mirror tag when she would go to the store! What’s wrong with these people? If they ever had to handle a wheel chair, or have to walk with crutches across a parking lot maybe, just maybe they would understand what these handicap spaces really mean to the people who really need them!

And remember, ---
You cannot un-say a cruel or unkind word.

A Charming Proposal

Hello friends, I am true to form, Lazy and Late again!!

But today I have a treat for you. Last night Jo and I went to the Waverly High school to watch the, 'High School Drama Club', out do themselves again. These young adults were simply unbelievable in their performance of a play by, 'Delmar Burkitt', Titled, "A Charming Proposal".

The play was directed by, 'Barbara Brushart' and was assisted by, 'Carol Cornish'. The students involved were Waverly High School Freshman, Sophomores, Juniors and Seniors. To really get the full impact of these Young people's ability, you would have had to be there...!

We have put together a slide show of an array of pictures for your enjoyment. To view the slide show, click here.

Wet Pants

Well you’ve probably figured out by now that I’m like a horse’s tail-

‘BEHIND’

I received this story from one of my e-mail friends and thought you might enjoyd it also…

WET PANTS

Come with me to a third grade classroom..... There is a nine-year-old kid sitting at his desk and all of a sudden, there is a puddle between his feet and the front of his pants are wet. He thinks his heart is going to stop because he cannot possibly imagine how this has happened. It's never happened before, and he knows that when the boys find out he will never hear the end of it. When the girls find out, they'll never speak to him again as long as he lives.

The boy believes his heart is going to stop; he puts his head down and prays this prayer, "Dear God, this is an emergency! I need help now! Five minutes from now I'm dead meat."

He looks up from his prayer and here comes the teacher with a look in her eyes that says he has been discovered

As the teacher is walking toward him, a classmate named Susie is carrying a goldfish bowl that is filled with water. Susie trips in front of the teacher and inexplicably dumps the bowl of water in the boy's lap.

The boy pretends to be angry, but all the while is saying to himself, "Thank you, Lord! Thank you, Lord!"

Now all of a sudden, instead of being the object of ridicule, the boy is the object of sympathy. The teacher rushes him downstairs and gives him gym shorts to put on while his pants dry out. All the other children are on their hands and knees cleaning up around his desk. The sympathy is wonderful. But as life would have it, the ridicule that should have been his has been transferred to someone else - Susie.

She tries to help, but they tell her to get out. You've done enough, you klutz!"

Finally, at the end of the day, as they are waiting for the bus, the boy walks over to Susie and whispers, "You did that on purpose, didn't you?" Susie whispers back, "I wet my pants once too."

May God help us see the opportunities that are always around us to do good.. Remember.....Just going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in your garage makes you a car.

Each and everyone one of us are going through tough times right now, but God is getting ready to bless you in a way that only He can. Keep the faith.

This prayer is powerful, and prayer is one of the best gifts we receive. There is no cost but a lot of rewards Let's continue to pray for one another.
The Prayer:

Father, I ask You to bless my friends, relatives and those that I care deeply for, who are reading this right now. Show them a new revelation of Your love and power. Holy Spirit, I ask You to minister to their spirit at this very moment. Where there is pain, give them Your peace and mercy. Where there is self-doubt, release a renewed confidence through Your grace. Where there is need, I ask you to fulfill their needs. Bless their homes, families, finances, their goings and their comings. Amen.

Too wet to mow

Hello Friends:

The grass is coming through the ground so hard and fast you can almost hear it crackling through. It’s a bright green and looking good to, for now that is..! The weatherman is telling me that we have more rain on the way, and that it’s been raining on the average of every 3 days. That doesn’t give the yard time enough to dry up enough to mow! Looks like I will have to order a pair of pontoons for my lawnmower!!! It just gets to where I can walk across the yard without getting my shoes all muddy, it rains again. There’s one consolation, the Lord knows what He’s doing… That’s for sure…! Anyway, I’ve been having trouble with the breaks on the riding mower, so I went out this morning and took the whole thing apart and found the problem. I remover the break assembly and found that one of the little pushrods that pushed on the break pad was froze in place. I took my hammer and finally got it out and greased it up good, now my breaks are as good as when I bought it. I put the mower deck in the tool; shad to keep it from rusting during the winter so I pulled it out and got it all hooked up too. But it’s still too wet to mow…!! At this rate, I’ll have to hire a bush hog to mow my yard when it dries up..!!
Have a great day……….. JD

Grandma's Hands

A friend sent this to me and I really enjoyed it, so I thought you might like to read it and maybe look at your own hands in a different light, I know I have….!.

Grandma's Hands

Grandma, some ninety plus years, sat feebly on the patio bench. She didn't move, just sat with her head down staring at her hands. When I sat down beside her she didn't acknowledge my presence and the longer I sat I wondered if she was OK. Finally, not really wanting to disturb her but wanting to check on her at the same time, I asked her if she was OK. She raised her head and looked at me and smiled. "Yes, I'm fine, thank you for asking," she said in a strong, clear voice. "I didn't mean to disturb you, grandma, but you were just sitting here staring at your hands and I wanted to make sure you were OK," I explained to her. "Have you ever looked at your hands," she asked. "I mean really looked at your hand s?" I slowly opened my hands and stared down at them. I turned them over, palms up and then palms down. No, I guess I had never really looked at my hands as I tried to figure out the point she was making. Grandma smiled and related this story: "Stop and think for a moment about the hands you have, how they have served you well throughout your years. These hands though wrinkled shriveled and weak have been the tools I have used all my life to reach out and grab and embrace life. "They braced and caught my fall when as a toddler I crashed upon the floor. They put food in my mouth and clothes on my back. As a child, my mother taught me to fold them in prayer. They tied my shoes and pulled on my boots. They held my husband and wiped my tears when he went off to war. "They have been dirty, scraped and raw, swollen and bent. They were uneasy and clumsy when I tried to hold my newborn son. Decorated with my wedding band they showed the world that I was married and loved someone special They wrote my letters to him and trembled and shook when I buried my parents and spouse. "They have held my children and grandchildren, consoled neighbors, and shook in fists of anger when I didn't understand. They have covered my face, combed my hair, and washed and cleansed the rest of my body. They have been sticky and wet, bent and broken, dried and raw. And to this day when not much of anything else of me works real well these hands hold me up, lay me down, and again continue to fold in prayer. "These hands are the mark of where I've been and the ruggedness of life. But more importantly it will be these hands that God will reach out and take when he leads me home. And with my hands He will lift me to His side and there I will use these hands to touch the face of Christ." I will never look at my hands the same again. But I remember God reached out and took my grandma's hands and led her home. When my hands are hurt or sore or when I stroke the face of my children and husband I think of grandma. I know she has been stroked and caressed and held by the hands of God. I, too, want to touch the face of God and feel His hands upon my face. When you receive this, say a prayer for the person who sent it to you, and watch God's answer to prayer work in your life. Let's continue praying for one another. Passing this on to anyone you consider a friend will bless you both. Passing this on to one not yet considered a friend is something
Christ would do.

-- Author Unknown

Home Churned Butter

I was just wondering how many of you have sat on that little 3 legged stool and actually milked Ole Bossy? I can only remember 2 or 3 times that I milked that old cow, I was a little whippersnapper back then. I had watched grandma countless times so I knew the drill. First you be sure that Ole Bossy had a good portion of feed or hay to keep her busy, then after giving her a few pats and rubs on the side you were going to be milking on, to let her know you will be there and not to get excited. The last thing you want her to do is plop her foot into the bucket, or kick it over. Then with the drying towel over your shoulder and your milk bucket with warm, clean water in hand you sit on your little stool and wash her bag and utters. This serves 2 purposes, one it lets her know what you will be doing down there, and two, It’s for sanitary reasons. Then when Grandma was finished with themilking, she would strain the milk several times and put what she wanted to serve at the table in her refrigerator. I don’t ever remember her boiling it.
I know that if you’ve ever milked Ole Bossy, you know what this is and what you do with it!

The rest of the milk would be prepared and put aside to be churned. Then the milk would be poured into that old churn and churned into butter? I remember that when the butter was almost ready, I had to let Grandma finish it up because it was hard for me to churn, but she was use to it. When the butter was finished, and if my mother was around, she would use a teaspoon and make a baby’s footprint in the middle of the butter. She was an artist and sign painter. I remember once she was hired to paint some advertisements on a grocery/dry goods store windows in Columbia La.,(Leg Rodgers’s grocery store). Along with several products advertised was an advertisement for ladies underwear, Mr. Rodgers asked her to be discreet with the wording. So, the sign read, “Seat covers- .50 cents a pair!” The reason they were so expensive is because they were store bought, not flower sack bloomers…! If memory serves me right, the ‘Coldwell Watchman’, the, (Columbia news paper), printed pictures of it!
I’m kind of rambling here, but if I don’t put it down when it pops in mind, I might forget…. Anyway…!
Things were a little different at home; we didn’t have electricity, running water, or indoor plumbing of any kind! And when my mother milked the cow, she had to go through the same procedure with the exception of the refrigerator. The milk that was to be served at the table was put into a gallon pickle jar with waxed paper over the mouth and then the lid screwed on. A string was tied to the top of the jar and lowered into the spring. The water was iced cold year round. That’s how we cooled our watermelons and anything else that needed to be kept cold. The spring was a natural fed spring. We did have an, “Ice Box”, for short time cooling of the butter and milk. If you have ever churned you own butter, then you know what an ‘Ice Box” is! I remember the “Ice Man” that would go by about a quarter mile from the house and we, as young’ns, would have to meet him at the main road and carry the chunk of ice to the house to put in the ice box. Normally it would start out at about 10 to 15 pounds but by the time we got it home and after we had sat it down to let our hands and arms thaw, it would be considerably less! Oh well, this post was supposed to be about the, ‘Churn; but you know how it is, It’s like Lays Potatoes Chips, you can’t eat just one……..!!

The Apron's History

One of my e-mail buddies sent me this, “Apron” history and I thought you might like to read it, I know that, like me, it will bring back a few old memories!
I remember just about every use mentioned preformed by my grandmother, and for that matter, my mother had an apron too, she also knew what it was for!
*************

I don’t think our kids know what an apron is.

The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath, but along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven. It was wonderful for drying children’s tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears.
From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven. When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids. And when the weather was cold, grandma wrapped it around her arms. Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove. Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron. From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls. In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees. When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds. When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner. It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that 'old-time apron' that served so many purposes.

REMEMBER........

Grandma used to set her hot baked apple pies on the window sill to cool.

Her granddaughters set theirs on the kitchen counter to thaw.