Another Chance Ranch

A Pretty Picture & A Short Little Story About Grandmother

Earlier this week, I went on a little road trip with McD.  He went to one of his offices, and I went to hang out with a very special friend of mine. 

Grandmother just happens to live in the same town, so we were able to stop by and see her for a little bit before heading home.  She is such a hoot!  She is a 95-year-old ball of fire!  I kid you not!  McD stops by to see her just about every week, and I don't know who enjoys the visit more. 

I couldn't tell you how many books Grandmother reads in a week, but she burns through them that is for sure.  I just took The Help to her on Wednesday, and I bet she is already finished with it.  I hope I am still burning through the pages of books like she does when I am her age.  Who am I kidding!  I just hope to make it to 95!  LOL

A few months ago, I took her the Heaven Is For Real book.  I really liked the book, and I thought she would too.  I had no idea what kind of impact it would make.  She went out and bought three or four more copies to pass out to other folks to read.  And everytime we are at her house, she brings it up.

She has said that she wonders if certain people (I won't name names) went to Heaven.  Recently, she said that if she sees so-and-so in Heaven she is just gonna let them have it.  She says that now she isn't afraid to die, that she's anxious to see Heaven. 

Something that has her looking forward to going to Heaven is that she wants to see her dog Mike, and her horse Velvet.  She was so excited that the little boy that went to Heaven said that there are lots of pets there. 

Her whole outlook has changed, and for the better.  It was fun to see her getting so excited.  I think she'd go tomorrow if she could, but I hope the good Lord will leave her with us for a little while longer.

My Dad

I'm recycling a post today, and here's why.  There's many of you that haven't read this, don't know my Dad, and should know what an important man he is in my life.  I am getting ready to walk out the door, and go to a baseball game with my Dad.  We share the love for baseball.  My dream is for me and Dad to go to New York to see the Yankees play.   Ya gotta have dreams!

I hope everyone has a great Father's Day!

Now, here's a little something about my Dad.

(Uncle Marvin & My Dad)

When I was a kid, my Dad seemed larger than life, like the Jolly Green Giant. Built like a brick wall, he stood five feet eleven inches tall. His body was a chiseled 180 pounds of muscle. He intimidated people by his strength and silence. Now time has passed, and some things have changed but for the most part he has remained the same. My Dad is a treasure because of his personality, work ethic, and loyalty to his family.

When a person comes close to losing their life, I believe their personality changes. Dad had a work related accident in 1992 that almost killed him. I thought I knew him pretty well until then, but little did I know. Instead of the strong-silent type, he became a talker, jokester, and socialite. Not much riles him up, because he lives a laid back life. He has the best sense of humor, and the most contagious laugh. I can crack myself up just thinking about him laughing. When asked about his favorite saying he had more than one. All you need to fix anything is duct tape or foam, just kidding" he stated jokingly.

When looking up workaholic in the dictionary, a person will find my Dad's photo there. As a young man, Dad wanted to be a baseball player but ended up hauling hay, and sacking groceries. He has worked most of his life as an electrician, and an Air Force Reservist. He would even do a little heating and air work on the side, which more often than not ended up turning into charity work. I think it made him feel good to help those in need, especially the elderly. Sometimes I went with him when he would have to work on an air conditioner or heater. I felt pretty important because I would help him by holding the light, or handing him tools. The job might have taken longer, but he never complained. Dad would like people to remember him as, "Someone that does their share." Since he does more than his fair share, he will not have to worry about that.

I asked my Dad to remember a happy moment about his life, and immediately he answered, "Marrying your Mom." When asked his favorite day of the year he stated, "June 5", my parents wedding anniversary. They celebrated their thirty-third forty-first wedding anniversary this year. Dad always puts his family's needs before his own. The sacrifices he has made would be an inspiration to any family man.

I want to sit down with my Dad and sing his favorite commercial jingle, the Oscar Meyer song. I want to capture his laugh and bottle it up so I can hear it anytime I want. I admire him for all he has done, and hope that I can at least do half as much. Dad says, "When the going gets tough the tough get going", and he is the toughest man I know. Through the years his frame has changed, but he remains larger than life to me.

(When I was in college, Comp I, we were told to write about someone I looked up to.  This was what I turned in and believe it or not, I received an A on it.)

I Love ya Pop!

The Thumb - Think About It

Have you ever just sat there and thought about how important your thumb is to you?

It seems we take these things for granted.

Last week we stopped in to check in on Grandmother.  If you are new here, Grandmother is actually McD's grandmother, but if she heard me call her McD's grandmother instead of just Grandmother she might just give me an earful.  She is my grandmother too, and I better not forget it. :)  I never will.

Grandmother is 94, going to be 95 in July, and is going strong.  She reads a few books a week, keeps up with the news, politics, and National Enquirers.  You know everything they print in those NE is true.  She even tried to get me to order things out of them, and if you haven't read that story then you need to.

Last week Grandmother went to the store, yes she still drives, and she was getting her things out of the trunk when the trunk closed on her hand.  I don't know about you, but it hurts me just thinking about it.  It didn't hit her hand and bounce back up, it completely shut on her hand. 

She tells the story better than any of us could. 

She is almost five feet tall, maybe, she needed to get in the house and go to the bathroom, and she gets her thumb stuck in the trunk.  She screamed, and she yelled just hoping someone would hear her.  She was just beside herself, those are her words.  She said that she knew no one would hear her, so she decided she was just gonna have to yank it out.  And that is exactly what she did.

We heard about it on the phone from Aunt Marg, and the story was horrible.  She lost her thumb nail, it looked like raw hamburger, and she wouldn't have it checked out.  She is kind of stubborn.  So, when we saw her I was afraid she would show it to us, and she did.  But it wasn't near as bad as it was made out to be on the phone.  You know how stories get bigger and bigger. 

She was fine.  There was a cut, but she still had her thumbnail, and it wasn't broken.  I loved sitting there listening to her tell us about how we take our thumbs for granted.  "You just can't do anything without your thumb," she said.   She looked down at her thumb, patted it softly, and said, "I'm so glad I still have you.  You're sore, but I still have you."

My Favorite Male Model

A while back I got into a silhouette groove.  I had so much fun, it should have been illegal. 

I took photos of the grandkids, the grandkids and their mama, and then McD.  I am telling you, I had fun!!  But I can't share the really fun photos with you, or McD might disown me.  I can't be having that.  I will say that he "Walked Like An Egyption," showed me his muscles, and did the OSU signs all in silhouettes.  I. Loved. It!

Here are some of my favorite shots of him.

This one might be my favorite.

I don't know, I really like this one too. I love the way the sun is shining on the grass.

I love the fact that I did not have to edit these photos at all.  No editing! Nada! Zilch! 

Hmmm, I'm wondering if I print several of these out and frame them if it would look cool in a collage in our guest bedroom.  What do you think?  All framed separately. 

He stands like this sometimes.  I think he was getting tired of me snapping photos at this point.  But he kept doing whatever I asked him to.

Well shoot!  Here's another favorite!  This is one of the last photos I took that night. 

I have to say that I love this man. 

Most of my family adores him.  There's always one that doesn't see things the same way, isn't there?  :)  He is my best friend.  He is my rock.  He is my...  Well, he is mine.  I am having a really hard time putting my feelings into words right now, no idea why.

McD is the best thing that has ever happened to me.  I want to say that he is the best husband in the universe, but I am sure some chick on Venus would argue with me.  You might think you have the best there is, so I will just continue to let you think that.  ;)

I love you, McD!!

The Baby Elephant & A Cutie Patootie

The other day I got some pretty bad news, but I decided to surround myself with some of my closest family.  I felt like I needed to see them, so they could see that I am really doing okay.  I have breast cancer; I'm not dying.

I was visiting with my sister last Saturday morning and we decided to meet at the OKC Zoo that afternoon.  Usually I am a big planner, but not that day.

We went to see the new baby elephant.  That was our goal.  Little did we know that we would have to stand in line for 30 minutes to see the little thang.  :)  We arrived at the zoo at 3 pm not knowing that the zoo closed at 5 pm.  Oops.  Then we had to kill 30 minutes standing in line, but it was SO worth it.  So worth it!

Look at that little cutie.  She did not move very far from her momma. 

The whole time we are watching her Lawrence, my nephew, was yelling at her.  "Watch the daddy poop!  Watch out for the daddy poop!"  We tend to turn heads anywhere we go.

You see these two?

These two are inseparable when we all get together. Lawrence doesn't want me, his momma, or sometimes even his daddy.  He wants his uncle.  His Stinkin' Ol' Uncle.  Just between you and me, I don't blame him.

Wanna see what they are looking at?  It was just the absolute cutest thing.  (FYI, I say that about almost every animal at the zoo. Almost.)

Isn't it adorable?  There were several of them swimming around with their momma, but I gravitated toward this one.

As we walked away, this is what I saw. 

I'm not sure why I like taking photos like this, but I love it.  They are both so happy, and having such a good time.

I'm not sure what is being said, but apparently someone is in trouble.

Still have no idea what was said, but we got a giggle out of it.

This guy refused to look at me.  No matter how many times I said hello, he just ignored me. 

Some of my favorite moments at the zoo were the moments that my nephew saw something awesome.  Every animal at a zoo is awesome to a child.  Oh, who am I kidding, I am in awe too.

We didn't tell him that was his long lost Great Uncle.  Maybe we will tell him on the next trip. :)

As soon as we climbed down the hill, we noticed a little sign. 

Oops. But everyone else was doing it! :/

This was the handsome little guy we hung out with that day.

I love you, Lawrence!!

On our way to get cotton candy, lemonade, and snocones we ran across this guy.  I think it is a Komodo Dragon.

We had a lot of fun! 

It was so good to get out, laugh, hug on my other handsome nephew G, and take a break from life. 

All the bad stuff disappears while you are at the zoo.

 

Wiseabe - @wiseabe

Have you ever heard of Wiseabe?

Go to their website.

Check them out.

Let me tell you how I found them. 

Today over at Testify we have a guest contributor.  Her name is Katy, and she works for Compassion.

Please take two minutes to click over there to read about a young lady named Pendo and her story. 

After reading several tweets that people had posted about this post I ran across one from @wiseabe.  I clicked over when I read that they are trying to raise money for another young lady, as well as others, to go to college.  They are selling messenger bags that are made out of recycled burlap coffee bean sacks, and a portion of the proceeds goes to help these students in third world countries. 

photos from wiseabe.com

They have partnered up with Compassion to help as many as they can.  All we have to do is buy a bag, carry it, and share the story when people ask about it.  And believe me, people are going to ask you where you got this bag.  They are very nice bags, and are styled to be for both men and women.  They would make great gifts too! 

This is one of my favorites!

I am seriously considering giving one of these babies away.  Would you be interested in winning one of these, and helping send kids like Noe Abe, and Ana to college.  Of course, Noe has a few more years before he goes off to college but there are many other kids that need our help.

Us vs. The Stripers

This is a special year in our family.  My Dad and I are celebrating milestone birthdays.  Since both of us have had major brushes with death, we welcome each and every year with open arms.  Age is just a number, and that number doesn't mean anything.  That is how I see it anyway.

I will be 40 in 12 days, and my Dad will be 60 in 16 days.  We had to celebrate a bit early, but we didn't mind.  It just means we get to celebrate more than once.  And believe me, we will.  For our first celebration we went to Lake Texoma for some Striper Fishing.

Our day started at the buttcrack of dawn.

This is Gary, our guide, driving the boat. 

This is my Dad's first time taking a guided fishing trip.  I was so excited for him to have this experience.  I don't think he really knew what to expect, but he was in for a treat.  By the way, it looks like he has a comb-over but he doesn't.  I just have to say that he has a full head of hair.  It makes me feel better knowing that you know this.  I'm weird, I know and embrace my weirdness.

These are the only two photos I took with my camera while we were out on the boat.  Can you blame me?  There are times that I would much rather have a fishing pole in my hands than my camera, and this was one of those times.

After we docked, unloaded all of our fish, etc is when I started documenting the details of our day.

This is the boat we were on.  I left Gary's phone number on there so you too, can use one of the best guides on the lake.

The gear we used.  This is not what my set up at home looks like, but I really liked them.

You see that do-hickey on the end there?  That is the coolest invention!  When your fish swallows the hook you are able to take the hook out with this. 

They dumped all of our fish out onto the deck. 

Here we are with all our fish.

You see the big one right there in the middle?  Well, I didn't catch it.  McD caught it, and it was the first fish that was caught on our boat.  Not all of the fish up there are Stipers, some are Sand Bass.  They were a lot of fun to catch too.

Gary took this photo for us, and then he got busy cleaning our fish.

I was trying to capture as many details of our day as possible.  Here you can see the difference between the Stripers and Sand Bass a little better.  The light was much better from this angle.

I have to warn you, if blood and guts make you squimish then you will want to skip the next couple of photos.

It only took Gary about 30 minutes to filet all the fish.

As he cleaned the fish, he would throw the left over pieces over into the water.  He was basically feeding the ducks.

That little guy was a greedy little sucker.

Look at all that meat.  Just picture it all fried up with some hush puppies on the side.  Yum!

Here Gary is taking out the red stuff, and talking to McD while he works.

I think they were discussing how I can find something to photography just about anywhere, and this is true.

It is all cleaned, bagged, and ready to take home.  We are going to have a fish fry.

We had a great time.  Had a great guide, and will gladly share his info if you are interested in taking a fishing trip with him.

Dad didn't know that the guide would bait the hook, take the fish off of the hook, re-bait the hook, clean the fish, and bag them for us to take home.  He said he wasn't sure what to expect, but he did have fun.  Goal accomplished!!!

 

A Tragic Trampoline Story

Yesterday I posted some photos of our little Bullfrog bouncing around on the trampoline, and I might have mentioned that McD doesn't like trampolines much.

Here's why...

When the kids get out there and jump and kick around it is fine.  McD doesn't get bothered by that.  Which is good because they like to play like they are in Kung Fu movies and work each other with special Karate kicks.  It is really fun to watch.

Poohs did a double action kick.

But then when they start doing flips, flops and acting goofy McD starts getting a little nervous.

You see, when McD was younger he did flips, flops, and goofy stuff on the trampoline too.  You know where the springs attach to the metal rail, well his arms went through the springs and his face landed on that metal bar.  Thank goodness there was someone there to help break his fall or it could have done a lot more damage.  His nose was beyond broken, it was pretty much gone.  He could take his finger and lay it across where his nose was supposed to be and touch both cheekbones.  Flat as a pancake.

It helps that the net is there to bounce them back onto the safe surface. 

But when they start doing things like this...

Ready, Set, GO!

Poppy, aka McD, turns around and goes in the house.

 

Flips, Flops & Our Bullfrog

 

I've been rummaging through photos lately.  I came across all the trampoline photos that I took of the grandkids.  (Check out the Bullfrog's hand. Too funny, he has no idea what he is doing.)

He was just getting over the crud, but he had to show Gandma his moves on the trampoline.  How could I say no?

 

 

I don't think he realized that his hair was standing on end.  Ya gotta love the static factor of trampolines.

McD, aka Poppy, has issues with trampolines but I will tell you about that tomorrow.

 

 

 

Poohs & Punky were doing flips and flops and someone else had to show they could do it too. 

He is such a sweetheart!

Can't wait to get back to see what other moves he has learned!

Old Negatives Turned Into Photos

Years and years ago my Aunt Dee gave me a ton of old photo negatives.  I spent months scanning all the negatives, editting the photos, printing three sets, and then putting all of the photos in albums for my mom and her two sisters.

This morning I found an old disc with some of the photos on it.  Here are a few of them.

The handsome fellow on the left is my Grandpa.  He was a welder.

I'm not sure who took these photos, but here's the welder.

Break time.

This is my Aunt Dixie. 

My Mom is on the left, and Aunt Dixie on the right.  This was their Shirley Temple look.

Here they are again, but I am not sure who the little boy is, Dixie, Mom, and Aunt Dee.  I'm not sure if Mom is being her regular fun self, or if she just wanted down.

And this one, well...it isn't a very good photo but there is a reason I am sharing it.

You see those clothes line poles in the background?  Well, my Grandpa made those for my Grandma.  Remember, he was a welder.  He even wrote on them for her. 

The only reason I know that he wrote on them was because my parents drove down to Texas where these were planted in the ground and asked the current owners if they could have them.  I am sure they explained that it was my Grandpa that made them, yada yada yada.  Now, one of the poles is planted in my parents front yard with flower pots hanging on it every year.  Kind of cool, huh!?

Will share more when I find the other discs. :) Unless someone skins me alive for posting this online. :) Ha!