#Caneyhead: High School Graduation

I've been overcome with activity lately from our Hannah Bug graduating from high school.  It didn't seem overly busy when I graduated.  When Bubba did ten years ago, things didn't seem to be in a flurry.  But WOW, this one was a continuous stream of activity!  So, without any further ado, here is my gorgeous, bright, funny, caring daughter:

She graduated last Friday evening as a 2017  Texas Foundation Distinguished High Honor Graduate and a member of the National Honor Society.  She loves to read, likes to succeed, respects history, adores little old men, gets along with children, and has a quick wit. She loves the Lord, has a way with animals, likes to deer hunt and can clean what she kills.  She is the epitome of a millennial Texas woman.

After her graduation, her Bubba took her out to eat with his little family.   Then he brought her back to school to be locked in for the night for operation graduation.  My nephew was a chaperone for the event, and said he'd bring her home when it was over at 5:00am. Pete's back was killing him from the bleachers, so we came straight home.

Once home, Pete was in a foul mood.  I have recently been unemployed, and Pete is on a fixed income.  I think his pain and the fact he had no grand gift for his baby girl was eating at him.  Around midnight, his mood suddenly changed and he told me, "I'm going out to see if I can find something, and if I can, you are going to help me with something."  Cryptic.  And I'm exhausted.  Yet, there was a gleam in his eyes that reminded me of Pete twenty years ago.  So, I simply said, okay. He soon came back with a roll of industrial grade reflective tape.  He then told me of his plan.  We were going to make letters out of the tape and stick them to the glass panes on the front of our porch so that when Hannah came home, and the headlights hit it down our long drive, she'd see the message as if in lights.  I loved it!  And loved him for it.  And knew she would, too.

So we commenced to cutting, and would take one or two words worth out at a time.  I'd start peeling the back off, then hand to Pete to place on the glass pane.  We finished right at five in the morning. Too excited to be exhausted, we got in the car and went down the road so we could come back around the curve and see what it was going to look like.  As we started to enter the curve, Pete said there were headlights behind us and to gas it...so I did and pulled into the yard to one side and turned off our lights.  Soon, Clay pulled in and this is what Hannah saw:

It reads "Daddy is proud!  Hannah Hazee, AKA "JR." In the middle is a cross and 2017 and "Thank you Clay." 

It literally looked like part of the Vegas Strip!  Hannah was overjoyed!  She knows how her daddy feels about the old glass pane doors he turned sideways in the front of the porch.  We may never get the tape off.  But then, who cares?  An unforgettable memory was made and that is all that matters.

Did you have any special graduates this year?  What is your favorite graduation memory?

Barbara

#ISawItOnFacebook

My first thoughts upon reading the little cartoon above, were how true the first sentence is!  Stresses and lack of appreciation have had me daydreaming of running away more than I ever did as a child. In fact I only remember ever thinking of it as a child but once.

As to the rest of it, who hasn't put something in a place and had trouble locating it later?  Keys, glasses, remote controls, phones...are all relatively small, all are often in our hands when we go to change locations or find we need both hands.  So it is easy to place them somewhere unusual  making them hard to locate later.

As to forgetting where one is going; who hasn't been lost in thought while driving and passed up their exit?  Back when our Hannah Bug was in the younger grades, she rode the bus most every day to school. Once in awhile, for one reason or another I'd drop her at school in the morning on my way to work instead.  She'd settle into the car, stick her nose in a book and be totally quiet.  Me being accustomed to being in the car by myself, I found us a mile or two out of town on several occasions before realizing I still had Hannah in the car!  It became a standing joke with us.

Yet, this reminds me of a serious, ugly problem I see happening all around:  older persons being painted with the broad stroke of ageism.

" Ageism is unacceptable behavior that occurs as a result of the belief that older people are of less value than younger people."

There is a current commercial for a service to help children help their parents manage their money. The ad literally makes my blood boil! They make the blanket statement that "as we age, we lose the ability to handle money."  Hogwash!  I have personally never known an older individual who couldn't handle their money.  In fact, most budget, plan and decide when to splurge as well or better then they did in their younger years.

I overhear and see many times, things that allude older people don't want to try anything new, be it technology, social media, foods they never ate before, or music of a new type or genre.  Older persons might be a little more selective in what new things they try, but every older person I know is open to some new things, with many mastering them with excitement.

I could give many more examples, but the bottom line is that all people do not age in the same way and at the same rate.   Decline in one area does not mean all of one's faculties are gone.  They have experiences and insights younger people can't have yet.  Just as this new and changing world is giving the younger people a different set of experiences and insights.  Instead of warring and disrespecting, perhaps the generations should try respecting one another and combining a century's worth of living into answers for ourselves and our world.

What's the latest "new" thing you have tried?  Have you experienced ageism directed at you?  Do you you have a problem valuing persons of a generation not of your own?

Barbara

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Faith: #TheWordonWords

“Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.”

- Phillipians 4:8, KJV

As I had drifted away from Christ in my twenties, I had allowed others to talk however they wanted around me.  I had picked up all the cuss words.  After all, what was really in a word?  Wasn't it more the way in which it was said, the intent?  Along the way, I was using them in comical ways or to calmly make a point.  And when I was angry, oh how well they flowed.  When Christ called me back to Himself in my early thirties, I was in such an angry, unhappy place at the time.  (You can find my Testimony under my Favorites in my sidebar.)


Since the time of my rededication, I have been closer and not as close in my Walk at different times.  But no matter how close, my stumbling block, my problem area, my biggest fight is always controlling my anger and my words.  What words we chose to use do matter!  Matter more than we can imagine or comprehend.  After all, God "spoke" the universe and our world and all that is in it into existence.  And we have John 1:1:  "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God". 


Back when I first started blogging, I went through the Bible reading, studying, reflecting and praying about each and every verse I found that dealt with speech, dealt with being angry, in order to allow the Holy Spirit to work within me to learn to not get angry, to cleanse my speech.  Along the way, I shared my reflections in sort of short devotion.  For various reasons, I am going to be visiting these verses again.  For my sake and the sake of someone I care very much about.  I invite you to join along as I make these available in a new series of posts here.


Barbara


Do you find yourself uttering certain words when you really had no intention to?  Does anger sometimes get the best of you?  Will you join me in aiming for the mark set in Phillipians in the verse above?

  

Caneyhead: My Handsome Man

Today, I want to talk about Stanley, my handsome man.  Stan the man.  Although Stanley is not a man.  Stanley is an eight year old stud horse and he is my baby.  A big, spoiled, overgrown roan baby.  He was born on Mother's Day of 2009, so Pete "gave" him to me for my present. 


Right before the challenge began this year, one morning when headed out to school, Hannah noticed he was lying down, and did not pop up in response to the coming and goings.  Although it  is true that horse can sleep just fine standing up, Stanley sometimes likes to lay down and have a good full out snooze on his side, looking for all the world like he is dead.  Other times, he'll lay on his stomach with his legs curled up like a foal, just dozing.  But Hannah correctly recognized that this was different. 


Pete & I immediately went out to check on him.  And he did get up, but it was clear he did not want to.  Immediately, we thought colic.  We made sure he had plenty of water and we started making sure he stayed up and moving around.  It became apparent that he was going to start to lay down continually, so Pete and my son took to walking him and keeping him moving for several hours. And yet, still nothing happened, no bowel movement, and still he wanted to lay down. 


At one point a couple of friends came over and helped Pete give him an enema.  That seemed to give him some relief, but still you could tell he was not himself.  We stayed up all night.  We would go and walk him for twenty or thirty minutes and then leave him be for an hour, then back to walking. 


Thankful that he made it to see another day, yet still no good bowel movement and not feeling right.  We finally tracked down a vet that treats horses and makes house calls.  He confirmed that he was in deed in a state of colic, gave him medication to help him with pain and left us a supply for "just in case" because as he said, once they colic, it is more likely they will colic again.  We asked why now after all these years.  He has always been on the same feed, always fed the same way, but recently we had run low on hay and had cut back on it.  Vet said that would do it, especially when a horse eats a "sweet" feed for his grain.  Luckily, I was able to get a bale of the hay we use from my brother-in-law.  Vet said feed him only hay for a week, then slowly get him back up to his feed ration, but suggested we switch him to another, less sweet feed.  He compared it to a person having irritable bowel syndrome and needing more fiber and less of other foods.  Fortunate again, the man we buy Stanley's hay from cut his field for the first time this year that very week!

I am happy to report that Stanley is now a month and a half past his colic episode and back to his ornery, sweet ways. 

#AtoZChallenge - Perspectives: #Reflections on the 2017 AtoZ Event

This year was a mixture of the very familiar and the totally new.  Familiar as once again we selected themes, posted each day in accordance to the alphabet, visited blogs that were new to us, commented, linked, shared.  That same sense of fellowship.  The same chance to learn new things, see places we'd never otherwise see, get glimpses into lives all around the world to see for all our differences we have so much in common.  In reality, each and every blog is a unique perspective on the world.  A view, typically from one person and drawn from their knowledge and experiences. 


The new of this year revolved around doing away with one central linky list and replacing it with a separate list for each day's alphabet.  This had it's ups and it's downs.  The largest down simply being that each participant had to go and link up each day.  The only other down I can think of is that it makes it much harder to gauge how many of the blogs you have visited at least once and how many are left to go.  So, for someone determined to visit them all, this would be a drawback.  Since I never make it to all of them, it did not matter for me. 


The upside, of this new approach, from my perspective, vastly outweighed the drawbacks.  For one thing, you never had to worry about arriving at a blog before they had posted for the new day/letter combination.  For another thing, it seemed traffic stayed interspersed more evenly throughout the day instead of all bunched up.  Also, I loved often knowing the topic of the day right in the list!  There was also more opportunity to share on social media without simply repeating same posts.   It was very nice that not once did I go to a blog and find it to not be participating!  Overall, this new approach is a total winner in my book. 


I found so many themes and posts I enjoyed this year!  It seemed more varied, and richer content abounded.  Not, to slight anyone who I visited and enjoyed, I still want to take the time to spotlight those that caught my fancy in a particular manner: 

A. J. Sefton Dark Ages Historical Fiction - A.J. led me on a journey through the places of the dark ages and the events surrounding them. He revealed the history that is known as well as the legend and myth and included breathtaking pictures for our journey.  If King Arthur appeals to you, the Legend of Robin Hood resides in your heart or tales of Vikings stir your blood you will enjoy!

Coach Daddy - I stumbled upon Eli and was mesmerized.  His theme was simply to clean out his idea box of assorted posts.  Each day was a new surprise, yet every entry was delivered with warmth, humor and humility. Visit once and fall in love.

Jingle Jangle Jungle - Mary blogs about music.  For the Challenge she took us back through the 70's with a list of Billboard Magazine's chart toppers.  Since I was 10-19 years old through the decade, I enjoyed hearing songs that still remain on my playlists and those forgotten gems. Even if you didn't live the 70's, they offered some of the best rock ever made.  So roll on over and have a listen.

Josie Two Shoes - Josie weaved magic in six sentences each day about one character in a story entitled "Full Circle".  The theme revolves around a ladies' group and life in a small Midwest town.  Written with warmth, we see women we know reflected in these posts as genuine, warts and all. If you came from, live in or ever wanted to be in a small town you must visit Cottonwood Creek!

Living in the In Between - Christian author, Ronda Werre, explores the the deeds and life of King David's Mighty Men of the Old Testament.  She gleans from the scriptures every morsel of information about these brave, loyal warriors of old.  If you enjoy delving deeper into scripture,  as I do, and exploring in detail the eras of the Bible to make it come alive, you'll like this series!  Even if you simply love action and stories of bravery you'll be at home here.

my morning cup of coffee...  -  Much like Dr. Sam Beckett finds himself leaping into different situations within his own lifetime in Quantum Leap, Debby leaps us around to different events of the Baby Boom years, essentially from the mid forties to the mid sixties.  Relive memories on this ride or gain a new perspective on your parents or grandparents through these articles.

If Only I Had a Time Machine -  Maryann revealed her creative side when she chose the lyrics to Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire" for her theme. With each letter, she explores the historical references named in the song!  A truly unique way to explore history and a great way to get the whole idea of the song.

Science Ladybug -  Being a science teacher herself, Ann is qualified to lead us through exploring the difference between opinion and scientific fact.  She clarifies things for us, reminds us of things we forgot and does it without boring us!  After all, her blog subtitle is "keeping science fun", which she does.

The Old Shelter - Sarah takes us by the hand and leads us through the dark, intriguing and dangerous world of film noir where the femme fatale and damaged heroes live.  Step in and explore the mark world war and the changing roles of men and women made on Hollywood film and America.

Ya Gotta Laugh About It - Calling her blog an electronic journal, Rhondi simply writes about her life and her experiences.  She does it with an honesty and sense of optimism you grow to love.  If you never have, you must go meet this glass half full Canadian girl.

Some of these I have already read every post and others I am going back to to finish.  All are on my follow list.

What did you think of the new way of doing things?  Are any of my picks also on your list?  Is there anything you want to recommend to me?

Barbara

I Saw it on Facebook

 

I can't say that I have ever spent much time worrying about people who didn't seem to like me.  Yes, when I was a child, I was more sensitive to that.  There have also been a few times along the way that I've been surprised by realizing someone did not like me.  I liked someone fine and thought they liked me, as well, only to discover in some abrupt or unexpected way that I was wrong.  I'm not saying it doesn't sting.  Sure it stings!  I think all rejection stings at least a little.

I'm just saying that I don't spend loads of time resenting them not liking me, or feeling sorry for me that they don't like me or even wondering why they don't like me. 

Still, if I do have a hunch or know for sure the "why", I'm not an idiot.  I think about it a little, if only to determine if it means I have been insufficient in some way as a friend.  Occasionally, you can see something in yourself you'd like to change, if for no other reason so as to be a better person, maybe a better friend the next time. Certainly, if no one seems to like a person at all, then it is quite likely that person needs to make some major changes in their attitudes and actions.

Many times, more often I think, it is about nothing one can really change.  Or more specifically, about something I wouldn't even want to change.  What I mean is, we all have distinct personalities, likes and dislikes.  Sometimes you meet someone and things just "click" with them.  You find you share so much of the same interests and viewpoints.  You find their humor delightful, they find you to be a good listener.  Things like that.  Sometimes, that chemistry just doesn't exist between two people, even try as they might.  Then there are those who are snobbish or have some preconceived idea of who and what all their friends should be.  These people aren't worth the time it takes to forget them.  And there are the ones who dream up ideas and reasons to be jealous or resentful of you.  They are trapped in a cycle of never really knowing or appreciating anyone. 

The people we love, many times can be some of the folks we like the most.  Some may not be.  But an investment into any relationship where love abounds is a good, solid investment.  Love forgives a multitude of sins.  Love joins us  in our sorrows, and rejoices with us in our wins. 

Do you find yourself worrying yourself sick when someone doesn't like you?  Have you ever seen someone had a good reason for not liking you? 

Barbara