Caleb's Posting

Caleb is Posting Today

(with help from grandma)

(Isn't He Handsome?)

Hi, I'm Caleb, the grandson and I so enjoy being around grandma and papa again. I have lived so far away since I was born and now we are at least in the same state. Two hours away and that's not too bad. So any chance grandma has to have me or my sister for the weekend grandma says it is really nice.
Here I am climbing the wall and going nose to nose with a buffalo. That is pretty brave don't you think?
Going down one of the many slides in the park. I love this little park. It was really crowded tonight for this is the first day of many that we have had warm temperatures and no wind. Perfect day for being at the park.
Oops! Didn't mean for that to happen, and of course grandma had to get a shot of it!!! Good Grief.
This is my less than thrilled look. I give it to grandma just because I can. Then I give other silly looks for no matter what I do she always has that camera in my face. Come to think of it she has done that since the day I was born. You would think she would tire but she never does. Oh well, what ever to keep grandma happy, for I think she is taking me to the circus!!Hip Hip Hooray.

Grandkid Alert

Just wanted to let everyone know we are getting the grand kids tomorrow. I am so excited. Any chance I get to have them for the weekend is just wonderful. I have bought new clothes (for the kids) and things for me to take pictures of them. We are thinking of even going to the circus. Allie won't be old enough to appreciate any of it, but Caleb should have a blast. It is so fun having the kids around, it lets us be kids again ourselves. I am always tired when they leave but it is such a good tired. (I am also always sick the next week....hopefully this time will be different) So I will be posting pictures of the kids soon, hope you can stand it. I can't wait!!!!

Round and Round We Go

Round and Round We Go

Rated E--everyone

In Enid we worked very closely with the Oklahoma Highway Patrol and I loved it!! Nothing like needing help and having the Calvary show up. These are some of the neatest men I had ever worked with. They were in a league of their own. So when they ever needed help you better bet we ran to their aid. They just don't ask for help very often, well not unless they just wanted to visit later maybe. Anyway, one of my very favorites was Joe T. Joe was a big ole guy with not one ounce of fat on him. He was probably about 6'3" lean, mean, fighting machine. He had coal black hair with a streak of white that made him almost look like a skunk!!! But you did not dare make fun of him (oh yes I did!!!!) One night Joe called in pursuit of a drunk and asked if there was a PD unit available to help in the area of 100 E. Elm. I was in the area so I ran over there. I asked him where he was, you know what direction had they taken, so I could try to catch up with them. He said at the M&M Bar. I was en route when I heard him say "we are going around the M&M bar." OK??!!! Isn't that where he just said they were? They have not gotten very far...I was very close to the area and so when I got there I could hear the siren and saw this OHP Trooper, bright red lights in the night and sirens loudly blaring, driving at a very slow rate of speed, chasing this old beater of a car "around" the M&M Bar. Not quite sure what I could do to help this situation (especially since I was laughing, hard to drive and laugh your butt off at the same time!) so I just stayed in place to see which direction the suspect might go. Then he starts back around the bar again! It is so funny, I just sit there and watch this "pursuit" and listen to Joe call out his pursuit. "Headquarters I am in pursuit of Oklahoma tag ****** at 100 E. Elm" "we will be going around the M&M Bar" silence for just a moment and then you hear,"headquarters we are going around the bar again" Silence on the radio, but I am watching the whole thing from the street. You see this is a little hole in the wall bar with a dirt alley beside it and a little parking lot to the east of it. And you have this Highway Patrol Car with all its lights and loud siren, going at a very slow rate of speed following this old clunker of a car and the guy just keeps driving around and around and around the bar. Patrons come out because of the noise but stay out of the way. Finally the man just stops in the alley. I think he must have gotten dizzy! Really he ran out of gas! The poor little dog in the back seat was thrilled the ride was over. The driver went to jail for DUI. I laughed and laughed and laughed. Another great night of fighting crime!!!!

The Winner Is????

As you can see the voting is over and Zoe is the winner. Remember I was having you vote on the picture that I should submit to class. Well I went ahead and printed off several pictures. Not that I don't TRUST your opinion, but I just loved so many pictures and I wanted to show them all off. Hope you don't mind. Thank you for your vote and your opinions.

Unbrotherly Love (Rated G-graphic!)

This certainly is not Philadelphia, the city of Brotherly Love. Enid is small town city in northwest Oklahoma with big city crime at times. But all towns have that. No one and I do mean NO ONE is exempt from crime in their town or life for that matter. I have learned never say oh he could never have done that. Oh yes he can or could. As it was on this date late one night I was on patrol when I received a call that a man had just been shot. The dispatchers still had the subject on the phone and advised me that the suspect had left the scene. It was dark, I do not remember what time of year it was, but I do remember it was dark. I was working the "mid-watch" shift (6p-2a) and I am thinking it was in the winter months. I am also thinking it was about 8:00 p.m. We were told the victim had been shot in the chest with a shotgun. Now this is kind of sick but I was thinking wow, this is going to be a gut slinger. A man shot in the chest with a shotgun. As a police officer we do kind of live for sick calls. Man I am flying to the call when my sergeant pulls up right behind me. We both park in the street and run up to the house. The front door is locked and the next thing I know sarge is kicking in the door. I am thinking (very fast) man this poor guy has just been shot and now someone is kicking in his front door. If the shot didn't kill him the heart attack of us kicking in his door might. I really thought that. I thought this is going to be bad, it is going to be bloody, I was ready for it. I was ready to work a really bad call. I was psyched up and ready to go. As we make entry into the house the victim is standing there in the living room on the phone to headquarters. And the big burly man, a big barrel chested man was just standing there on the phone with no shirt on and all that was going on was a few drips of blood coming down his chest. Drip, drip drip. That's it. Where was my gut slinging shot in the chest call? Where is my adrenalin rush, gun toting, bad guy chasing call? This is it???? drip drip drip???? Sarge yells at me to lay the man down on the floor. He tells me to work this as a homicide. I thought, this poor guy is hearing all of this, I am still waiting for the heart attack to take over. The victim tells me his brother had shot him. He tells me the story of how it all came about. The victim was at his house watching TV. He hears a knock on his door so he answers it. It is his brother and he is yelling at him about him cheating with his girlfriend. The brother tries to tell him he is not cheating with his brothers girl friend. But he would not hear of it. He points the shot gun at him about the time the victim pulls the storm door shut and boom. The suspect brother shoots his victim brother right in the chest. The ambulance shows up and takes him to the hospital. I am told he has about 8 or 9 pellets in his heart. They are going to transfer him to OKC but it is foggy out so he will have to be driven the 90 miles rather than med-a-flighted. Sarge comes to me and says, I bet we will work a suicide before the night is over. You see, the brother is mentally unstable and he has not been taking his medicine. The victim just could not reason with his brother. The last he was seen he was driving away to the north in a black pickup from the crime scene. No one had any idea where he was or where he might be going.

Nothing more happened the rest of the night and I was getting ready to get off from work. I got a call to go to the hospital for they were bringing in an assault victim from a small town south of Enid. They asked I check it out and see where the crime occurred so they could determine who would be working it. Who had jurisdiction over this crime. Everyone else was busy and they asked that I stop by and check things out. No problem, the hospital is right by the police department so it was right on my way. I went into the emergency room and was sent to the big room right of the nurses desk. So I walked back there and on the gurney was a guy bleeding profusely from the face. In fact it was really gross. He just laid there making cooing sounds. Sounded like a dove, weird. The ambulance guy tells me that he picked the victim up from the bar where some patrons had heard a horn honking and they went outside to see why the horn would not stop. When they got out to the vehicle they saw a man leaning over on the horn. He had been beaten up severely so 911 was called. No one saw what happened and they did not know him. So we had a mystery on our hands.

I go back to the victim to see if he can tell me what happened. Well I go in and I take a good look at him and decide he won't be telling me anything. No he isn't dead, he has no mouth. We start figuring out this is my victims brother from the earlier call. He was not beaten up, he tried to kill himself...and failed. So after leaving Enid from shooting his brother, this guy now drives to the area south of town. He went to an oil lease road and tried to shoot himself. As he put the shotgun under his chin he reached to pull the trigger but could not quite reach it. As he reached for the trigger, it caused his head to turn a little to the side and tilt upwards. When the gun went off he shot his chin, mouth, teeth, lips, and nose. They were gone. And I do mean gone. It looked like a big ole package of hamburger meat with a hole punched in the middle. It was just ground meat on his face. After pulling the trigger and not killing himself he gets back into his truck. He drives to town for help and as he pulls up to the bar he collapses and lays over on the horn. The patrons come out and find him thinking he has been beaten up call the ambulance and we are back to the present at the hospital. Well I went to talk to the doctor and we looked at the x-rays. It was interesting to see the buckshot all lodged up in the naval cavity. It was like, blow your nose mister and get the lead out.....oops, you don't have a nose. I have called headquarters and told them what I had. By this time the detectives and bigwigs are showing up. We are all in the exam room when the captain starts to ask questions to the man. But he can not talk. So the captain says, someone give him your pen and some paper to right on, we have to have the answer to some questions. It is decided my pen and steno pad gets to be used by the bloody man. Captain is questioning him pretty hard and asks him where is the gun. The guy says it is out on the oil lease road. Captain needs to know where the gun is more specific. We need to recover the gun for many reasons, evidence, and you don't want someone else to get their hands on a loaded shotgun, especially a kid. So the captain sternly says to him, listen mister, I need to know where you got shot, now you better be thinking about it and tell me. The man takes my notepad and in bold short choppy handwriting writes his answer to the captain and you can see the attitude by his body language. He writes: IN THE FACE!!! Captain looks at him and says, "No sh** Sherlock!" and walks out of the room. I saw many officers turn there backs trying so hard to not laugh out loud at the poor man with no face. I think the detective had already figured that much out!!!!

Follow up to the case: The man was rushed to the hospital in OKC where he was treated successfully. The brother who was shot in the heart was released from the hospital in about three days with no surgery. They left the pellets in his heart saying the surgery was too risky. The victim declined to file charges on his brother saying he was mentally unstable and he just could not send him to prison. He refused to cooperate and the district attorney didn't file the charges. The captain went to OKC to give the man some papers about charges being dismissed. This was a few weeks after the incident and reported back to me that they had done reconstructive surgery on the man and if you did not know what had happened you would never guess the man had shot his face off. I don't think he was ever able to talk for he had no tongue and I do not know what ever happened to the brothers. Never heard from them ever again. I hope life if treating them well.

A Snake in The Grass

A Snake in The Grass

(Rated E for Everyone)

Why is it that people do not like snakes? Do you think it has anything to do with Satan in the Garden of Eden? I have read a story about a boy that was out walking one day when a snake asked the young lad to please help him. He said I must get to the rocky mountain area not far from here. It is further than I can travel in the time I need to get there. The boy fearful of snakes tell him no, he can not help him. But the snake does not give up and begs the boy to please have a heart and help the poor old snake. But you will bite me if I pick you up the boy explains and the snake once again begging for help promises he will not bite him. Just please take the time to help him to achieve his journey. The boy being a kind hearted, innocent child picks the snake up puts him in his coat pocket to stay warm and travels the journey to deliver the snake where he needed to go. The boy finally reaches the place where the snake wanted to go, takes the snake from his coat and goes to put him on the ground. All the sudden the snake strikes the boy and inflicts much pain and venom into the lad. The boy cries out in pain and disbelief as to how unthankful the snake was to bite him. The boy screams at the snake, "you promised not to bite me, now I am going to die" The snake has already started to slither away, looks back at the boy writhing on the ground in pain and tells him, "No matter what I promised you, when you picked me up you knew what I was". That story has a very powerful meaning to me as a police officer and as a DARE officer in the classroom with children. When we do things such as being tempted by drugs, it doesn't matter what the "dealer" tells us about the drug...ie, oh it will make you feel good, it will make you forget your problems, it won't hurt you, you can stop anytime you want. Well with all those promises I am here to tell you, you knew what it was when you picked it up. A drug is a drug is a drug. The pain and devestation is what follows with drugs. Even if you don't get arrested there are consequences for our actions. We know what it is when we pick it up.

But that is not what this post is about. Again one day I was out on patrol, I think this day was either a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. I get a call to assist a citizen in reference to a snake. I hate those calls. Just what in the world does this citizen expect me to do? I am NOT the snake whisperer. Heck, I don't even like the stupid things. I arrive at the location given, park my car in the street and approach the house. I walk up the drive way to be greeted by Mr. Citizen Q Public. How may I help you today sir was my greeting. Well, he started to explain that he saw a snake in his car. Oh really ??? Where exactly in your car is it? We walk to the front, to the hood of the car. Now this is starting to get weird. He slowly lifts the hood of the car and tells me it is in there pointing to the engine. Ok, now not only do I not like snakes, I AM NOT a mechanic. I don't know anything about car engines, how they work, where all their little compartmentsare or what these thing-a-majigs are. I am not even sure where the oil goes. (that is why I have a husband or wal-mart) So I just look at him with that what do you want me to do look. He says to me there is a big snake in there. To which I reply......Where? In there he tells me pointing to the engine. I don't see no stupid snake. I look around real quick and I can honestly tell you I DID NOT see a snake. But what I did see was that I walked up a drive way that was covered in what I call ground cover. That is an ivy like greenery grown here for decorations or to control water runoff, or to keep weeds out. For whatever reason this old man has grown this ivy ground cover all up his driveway. It is thick, and fairly tall. Oh I would say at least six inches tall, some spots more, some less. But very thick. There is no snake in the engine that I can see. Are you starting to get my point yet??? No snake that I can see in the car engine...if he is not in there then he must be OUT of there. If he is out of there he must be here....in the ivy....waiting for me. The story comes rushing back to my head as if the boy was right there speaking in my ear. You knew what I was when you picked me up. Sorry sir, I don't see any snake he must be gone. I quickly high stepped back to my car all the way down that long driveway. That driveway was a lot longer going back than I remembered when walking up it, my heart is racing that please Lord do not let me find that stupid snake. I get back to my car, slam my door and report to headquarters. I am 10-8 unable to locate any snake. I pulled away seeing the old man in my rear view mirror shutting the hood to car. I think I would donate that car and have it hauled away.

Stories From The Past

Greetings from the present my friends and readers. Today I have thought about starting a new trend for myself. I thought I would start writing once in a while about events that happened during my career. Mostly because I want to share stories about my days as a police officer. But also because I want to try and record some of these events due to my failing memory. Of course the events will be disclosed as I remember them now. It will my perspective of the event as it happened anywhere from a year to 21 years ago. I have many fond memories of my career and I never tire sharing the excitement of days gone by. It is nice to be able to say "I loved my job". So here goes with my first story. As time goes by some be rather graphic, maybe I should warn you in the title of that rating...??? I will work on that thought. But we won't need it for today

That's A Lot of Bull

As a girl growing up I was around cattle a lot. We had cows on our little country acreage, bought and sold calves, butchered our own beef, and of course I had my show steers. We had a pet Brahma calf that my brother and I snuck into the house when my parents were at work, we had unwelcome bulls come onto our property, we had livestock around a lot during my 18 years at home. So when we got the call early one Sunday morning about a bull running loose in down town Enid I thought, "Oh Boy!" Sure enough there was a bull, a lot of bull running loose. He was ever bit of 2000 pounds, a huge red bull, and I had no idea who he belonged to. And what do you do with a big bull that is loose you ask? NOTHING. What could I do with him? We called for animal control to come out and help (laugh, laugh, laugh) What are they going to do??? We needed to call a couple cowboys with ropes or get a tranquilizer gun ready. This guy was going through yards, going out in traffic, going right through anything in his way. I know you should not crowd him, don't get him running, don't spook him, just keep things calm. Well not all police officers are like me. This big guy didn't want to be bothered by any of us, but we had to keep him out of the road, we didn't want him tearing up yards, gardens, etc. and we did try to move him back to an area where we thought he might have come from. But he is in down town Enid. It seems we chased this guy for hours trying to "herd" him back to an area where we thought he came from. We made phone call after phone call trying to figure out who might own him. It seems we checked brands (not so unlike labels on a can of soup!!) trying to figure out which farmer owned him. But all to no avail. No one knew who he belonged to, no one wanted to claim him and he had a mind of his own. This bull had gone all over town by mid-morning. The old saying the grass is greener on the other side of the fence??? Well there were a lot of fences and he must have been hungry. Because he kept going to the next "pasture". I remember towards the end of our round up this bull was headed towards Meadowlake Park. I nice family park where people gathered for outings and reunions. There is a little lake there, a train for the kids to ride, along with other rides ie, merry-go-round, little airplanes on chains that swing, a nice little family park many years old. And the bull was headed right for it. He crossed Van Buren, also known as Highway 81. Our four lane going north and south through town. We are trying to get there to stop traffic, I guess you know in Enid the bull has the right of way if he chooses to cross the street and he does not use cross walks either. So can you see a bunch of small town cops chasing a big agitated bull in down town, south of town, around town Enid Oklahoma when he heads right for the park. He is not a happy camper, he is not going where we tell him, he is mad as a bull in a china shop(what a pun) and he is headed towards what I think is a family reunion. I see a little old lady there right in his path. I fear the worse. She is probably about 80 years old, a frail white haired little old lady. No body seems to be paying attention that a big ole mean bull is headed right towards her. Where are the men of the reunion? The brave men and boys that should be there protecting the family. I look and do see some running away, people pointing and laughing at the event. I see horror on some faces, that was probably mine in the mirror as I fear what is about to happen and I can't get there to save her. She is going to be mowed down by this raging stampeding bull with death and destruction on its mind. Do I draw my weapon and shoot it? No, too many people in the line of fire...this is my nightmare and I am living it right now. I scream for her to move, get out of the way, run , (what was I thinking, she is 80 years old for Pete's sake) and here it comes. This little frail lady reaches into her sleeve as all grandmas do, and pulls out her hankie. Her little white lace hankie, and grabbing it by the corner she starts waving it in the air and in her firm old lady voice says, "Shoo bull, shoo!" "now you just get on out of here". That bull stops!!! He looks at her, gives a little snort her way and turns and goes off the other way. I stood there with my mouth opened, had to pick my jaw up from the ground as the majestic red bovine of over one ton, turns at the request of a little old lady and goes away. You just had to see it to believe it.

The bull was later captured and taken to a vet clinic while he was held awaiting his owners return. Funny, he was never claimed and the bull was later sold at auction I believe. But it made front page of the Enid News and Eagle about 20 years ago! Some moments should probably not be published!!!!

Please Vote

It is your American duty to vote. So I ask you, are you a true American??? Well that is not really what this is about, but I do need your vote. Would you please look at the pictures in the two postings below and then come back and vote on the one you like best. I have marked the ones as "voting picture" that are in the poll, but you can select any picture you like by marking other and leave your answer in the comment section.I am taking a class and have to submit one picture to turn in at the end of class to be viewed at school. They take one photo each week and hang them up in the office window for everyone to view. So I am just curious as to which one you think I should submit. Thanks for you time and for taking your civic duty serious.

New Pictures of the Kids

I told you I had new pictures of the kids....

It is like their Sr. pictures. Some are more senior than others.

Sorry Zoe!

Here is my momma girl Zoe.

(voting picture)

Rudy posing by the bridge and little fall.
Callie by the bridge and falls.
Rudy looking awesome
The kids having fun at Pretty Water Lake. Waiting their turn to have their picture taken.
Momma girl, Zoe is the best dog in the whole world.
Rudy looks a lot like his momma. He is so handsome.

(voting picture)

Callie is elegant and regal looking.
She is the queen. She is so loving.

(voting picture)

More of Rudy

The dogs were good to sit still for their pictures. I was impressed.
I love taking their pictures. I will learn how to work a better picture in the editing field later. But so far this is the best I have come up with. It is a start!

Look At What I Shot Today

Today was BEAUTIFUL!!!

We finally had sunshine so after church Scott and I went hunting!

My new class assignment was to shoot animal shots.

Look through here and see what we came up with.

I am so stinking proud of myself.

(voting picture)

Several of you will truly understand and appreciate these pictures.

As you can tell these are very large horses. Can you really get a feel for how big they are?

Scott is not a small man, he is 5'11" tall, so these guys are pretty good size.

I Love the Hoof to Foot shot!!!

Oh MY GOSH! These are some huge feet!, I mean hooves....

Two other horses in the same pasture. The one on the right doesn't look that big, but it is!

A beautiful paint horse.
Regular and Draft horses. Pretty huh?
This is the same horse shot earlier on the hill with the other black horse. Love this shot.
The Old Grey Mare, She Ain't What She Used to Be. Ain't What she Used to Be. Ain't what she used to be. The old grey mare she ain't what she used to be, long long time ago.
This is a calf and a 10 month old Great Dane named Splash!!

What do you suppose Splash is telling Junior there??

(voting picture)

Daddy!!!!!!
Man that is one good looking Hamburger!!!
Howdy folks, glad to meet you here at the farm!
The Three Stooges??
Larry, Moe and Curly?
Fitting!!!
He is so dag gum cute!!!!

I smell BACON. (inside joke!!!)
Oh I kill myself....those of you that know me will get this!!!!

Hamalot!!!! I love it!!!!

Scott, Splash and Little Spot? Too cute!

Man this has been a really good day. We went to church, ate lunch with my folks and then enjoyed the day out taking pictures. I even have pictures of my dogs, I need to post them too!

I think I will !!!

Bound And Determined

This is Our Woodpecker!!!

Right out the bedroom window no less.

I enjoyed watching him eat things off the ground and climb all over the tree.

Just never did get a good shot of him.

This little guy is a Chick-a-dee I think.

He is sitting on the back porch bakers rack with the suet.

I wanted them closer so I good try and get a picture, they are not

scared at all. They sit there while I take their picture.

I am getting closer and closer to getting the Cardinal shot.

Can you believe the squirrel and the Cardinal eating together?

Another Chick-a-dee (or something!)

I am so trying to learn how to use my camera.

So we will watch as time goes by to see if I get any better. Hope so.

OK, I'm Not Mad Any More

Well I have to say, I am not really mad about it not becoming an ice storm, I was just messin' with you. I was disappointed, sad, hurt, but not mad. Not Really. Because today was the day of the police banquet. Now that is something I have been mad about. I have been carrying this grudge in my heart because the police department did not give me a "retirement party". I have told you in past blogs that I feel that any officer that has served the community with 20 plus years deserves a retirement party. We have done them for officers in the past, but like everything else in life, things change and life isn't always fair. Heard that many times before haven't you? A couple months ago maybe six weeks really, I received an invitation to the first police banquet. It was going to honor the retired police officers that did not get a party. I was really not interested in going, but turned in my name anyway. All day today I kept trying to decide if I really wanted to go or not. In fact not until 2:00 pm. did I decide to go. So I got all gussied up, and we drove the two hours to attend. I am glad I did.
We got there to find many many people were attending. Old people that I worked with 20 years ago, and even some older than that. There were some old guys that had retired before I was ever there. Pretty amazing huh? There were some current guys that was good to see as well. But it was nice to see many of the oldies. Capt. David, he retired about 10 years ago and his family bought my horse years ago. Stormy was a good horse and really got them going in the horse world. They love their animals. I had not seen him in many years. Sgt. Tim Copeland was there and was playing the drums with his band. He looks weird, but I love him to death. He has the long beard, big hole ear rings, eyebrow piercings, tattoos, I love him. He had to shoot a man one night and it really bothered him. He retired shortly after that. As a christian he really suffered with that one, but everyone knows he did the right thing. The man came after them with a hatchet and even got one officer in the chin with it. What else can you do but shoot? I saw Tommy Rose and Scott Miller, they are my "brothers". We joined the department together and worked together, took many calls together, I love my brothers. Tommy retired a month before I did and Scott is still working there. Crazy guy!!! But he has a two year old daughter so he says he has to stay working to keep her in clothes. But the biggest surprise was the guest speaker. Sgt. Pat Blakely, my old sergeant. He did not retire from the department, but rather left after about 11 or 12 years to become a lawyer like his brother. And he accomplished that goal. He spoke about several of the old timers and made a few jokes. I was very glad to see him. He was one sergeant I really admired and he treated me very fair. Remember I was one woman of about five at the 85 man Enid Police Department. It was not an easy life. In one of my earlier post, the one about the badge, he was the sergeant that helped me do CPR on the shooting victim. That was an interesting blog!!!
After a good meal, pretty good company and conversation, they handed out the awards. All of the retired officers received a badge of honor ribbon, a certificate and then Tommy and I got the plaques from the Police Department and the City of Enid Plaques because we had never gotten ours. I had made sure everyone else got theirs while I was working there, but no one had gotten me mine. Nor Tommy's since I was gone shortly after he left. So now I have my plaques, my little certificate, and my social need met. They will have the banquet next year too. But I like what Sgt Blakely said, it is not a retirement party, it is a family reunion. See you next year.

I'm Angry

I'm Angry and I don't care who knows it. In fact, I hope everyone knows it. I am making a point. Everyone that knows me, KNOWS that I stand on principal. Being a "retired" police officer I am and always will be one that stands on principals. It is the PRINCIPAL of it, you have heard that before I am sure. I expect people to keep their word to me. It makes me very angry when someone tells me something and then do not follow through with it. It makes me doubt the human race, and I know that people are people everywhere, but honestly don't you hate people not keeping their word to you? How about the plumber not showing up when he says he will? Or someone telling you, yes I can have that to you by 2:00 Tuesday then a week later it shows up. We do not like to be misled. It is human nature, I am sure I am not the only one with this affliction. But today I am really ANGRY. I made all these great plans, built my whole day around it, my mood was already set for it, the anticipation, the wonder, the camera set to take pictures, the wood stacked ready to burn, the car gassed and ready and then it happened....Rather I should say it DIDN'T happen. We didn't get any ice, rain, or snow and I am ANGRY AND I DON'T CARE WHO KNOWS IT!!!!!

Wednesday!

Today is Wednesday. What is special about today you ask? Well we are suppose to get ice. I can't wait. I hate to be teased and then nothing happens. I hope we get ice, snow, rain, just some stuff. It makes life fun. I can say that because why?? (My dedicated readers know the answer to this question!) BECAUSE I AM RETIRED!!!! I love being retired and young enough to enjoy it. Just wish it paid better! Anyway, I hope we get ice just because it will be fun for a little while. I don't want ice like the ice storm of December, but just enough to make it slick for a while, it will make for a good day to stay home, build a fire in the fireplace, fix some soup, play with the puppies, watch tv, read a book, sew a quilt, make homemade bread, paint the bathroom, replace the living room carpet, plan out the new kitchen....woe, I need to wake up, was caught dreaming there for a moment. Where was I???, oh yes, we are suppose to get ice at 9:00 p.m. tonight and will all be over by 9:00 a.m. Friday. See just one day of it. I better go to the grocery store today and buy stuff for the soup. I make a really mean baked potato soup. And today I get my hair colored!!!! Finally can cover up this grey. Should take pictures of that....naaah don't think so.

My New Bird Feeder

Decided to Feed the Birds

A couple weeks ago (maybe a month) we decided to start feeding the birds. We bought a cheap little feeder from Atwoods, figured the squirrels would chew it up anyway, and filled it with seeds. It has taken a little time but the birds are coming in to the feeder. We put suet out as well and they really do like that. I keep waiting for the "cool" birds to come in and maybe this spring they will. But I have noticed it is not all sparrows coming in.

This is three doves, which I normally have any where from 1/2 dozen to a dozen doves. Just feeding them for the hunters huh??? Oh well. Notice the other little bird feeding with them? Not sure what he is, a finch maybe? We have a lot of them whatever they are.

But this little guy is my favorite. He and his wife were out there feeding today but I could not get their picture. Later this afternoon he must have been still hungry for he came back without her. I got three pictures of him but he turned his head and it was not a good picture. So this is the best I got. Hey Cara, I see YOUR cardinal and raise you three doves. And I could have sworn I saw a blue bird....is that possible? (it was not a bluejay, I know what they look like.)

Meghan's Wedding

7-7-07

Lucky 7 Wedding of

Meghan and Chad

These are just some shots at Meghan and Chad's wedding. I thought you might enjoy seeing them. The shots are mostly funny pictures, I will post other serious shots another time.
Look at the ring bearer's smile...isn't it soo cute?

This next picture is Meghan with her Matron of Honor, Aunt Cheryl

Dad, fix your tie, mom you're going crazy, just smile everybody!
Meghan and the flower girl Tori
Oh we finally found a sucker to take her....I love you!!
The beautiful bride Meghan
"I'm not listening to you....."
No Chad, you can not leave!! Wow boy, easy!
Isn't he cute???
Oh MY!!
We had fun at the wedding and I thought these were some fun shots.