What's New With You?

Here I sit, realizing how seldom I have updated in 2010. And how long it has been since I made a "newsy" entry for my online friends. Feeling blessed by the Christmas we just had, and hoping that yours was as well. So, I'll start by answering that question myself, and encourage you to do the same in a comment or an entry of your own.



This has been a year of growing, stretching and changing as a family. Rough spots in some places and smooth traveling in others. Individually, as a couple, as a family. I'm still at the same job, for the same pay rate, for the same hours. I've decided I want to invest more time in my blog this year. It's the only true hobby I have and I miss it. I'm reasonably healthy, happier with myself then I've been in ages and rolling with the punches.





Pete's still dealing with a medley of health issues with no positive answers. He slacked up this past year in work he takes in here at home, in large part due to never knowing how he'll feel and what he'll be able to do and people expecting, wanting things done quickly. But also because a couple of folks found it not necessary to pay him for his work. Maybe they think just because he cut them a deal on the price it wasn't hard to do....or they think it wasn't worth anything. But his ex-brother-in-law had us up twice this past summer to his lakeside home for Pete to help him work on his boat dock. It gave us all a couple of wonderful mini vacations. He's still cooking quite often and making delicious meals, preserves and such to share with us, his family and with friends. I think cooking is a real joy to him most of the time, while with me it is often just a chore that has to be accomplished. He raised a beautiful garden this year, but extremely dry conditions yielded us very little to put up.





Bubba has really been full circle! He started his year unemployed and on a down-hill slide. But thank God, he realized where he was headed and came to us for structure and has turned things around. He's working as a mechanic in a local shop. Not the biggest wages he has ever drawn, but good steady work with good people. He met a sweet girl and has since made her his fiance. All of this has seemingly had a calming influence upon him and given him a sense of direction. Why even today they are spending the day down at our old house, working on fixing it up after hurricane Rita and neglect, with an eye toward the day they can begin a life together in the home he began his life in.





There was no deer camp this year for the first time ever since Pete & I were married. Dues for these things are just too high under our circumstances. So we hauled everything from our old camp site home and Pete has set up a "camp" right outside! Complete with his little camper to cook in and the pitcher pump hooked up for easy, handy water access.




Hannah is blossoming and becoming quite her own unique and special person. Still overall loving, happy and giving. Her grades are optimal and she has a passion for reading that she nourishes and a flare for writing little short stories. She is very basic and simplistic in what she needs to find comfort or amusement.





Of course the biggest story of the year is her and Pete coming to Christ as their savior. I knew they would, in time, some time. For He had promised it to me. But I didn't know when or how....never expected it to be this year...but that's another story, yet to come.





Now, what is new with you?

Autumn in the Piney Woods of Southeast Texas

That signature crisp feel in the air.  The deeper blue in the sky at night.  Cooler, darker mornings that make you wish you could spend your life snuggled down in bed.  It's been here, and then backed away as if trying to decide whether to proceed or not.  Autumn came on the calender near the end of September and it has been flirting with us in reality ever since.  Today I thought I'd share some of the rich beauty of our local autumn with you in a few pictures.

There you have it!  This is at the top of the hill headed into the Jack Gore Baygall unit of the Big Thicket National Preserve.  Looks very similar to the foliage in spring and summer.  By nature, our woods are made up mostly of pine, cedar, holly and oak.  The live oak keeps leaves all year.  So all year round you have green.  No eye catching, breath taking color here.  The exact tint of green changes to a degree, but there is no flaming red or brilliant orange.

But we do have the bright sun shinny yellow hues of the rag weed in most every square inch of land left to stand idle.  Which the brisk fall breezes pick up pollen from and deliver to our noses so that suddenly, "God bless you!" is the most often heard phrase around.  (Wonder if we said it more often without the sneezes if God would curb the ragweed for us?!)  Thanks to this plant, when we open our windows and try to save on the electric bill as the humidity finally slides below 70%, we awake in the night to find ourselves feeling as if we are drowning in drainage and arise in the morning to nauseated stomach.  Benedryl sales skyrocket.

We do have a sprinkling of pale yellow that sweeps through in some spots that are populated with sycamore, sweet gum or pecan.  The green fades out to that pale yellow and then quickly turns to brittle brown as the leaves float down and pad the ground.  Of course that cursed plant that came here from abroad and cannot be successfully rooted out, the talla tree does have the redeeming trait of bringing us our only reds and crimsons to be found on the horizon.  I have always wanted a red maple planted in the yard, just so I could enjoy the bright fall color it would yield.  But, alas, we've never gone and purchased one.  Perhaps one of the children might make a Mother's Day gift of one next year.  When I'm old and feeble they can wheel me out and sit me in front of it and amuse me for hours.

Simply put, if you want the splendor of fall foliage, Southeast Texas is not your place to get it.  Stick to New England.  But if you love Texas like we do, you just enjoy the cooler, less humid air and anticipate that first cool front cool enough to kill off the mosquitoes.

My friends and followers, the past two months since I last posted has been a busy, hectic time it seems.  We had the thrill of Pete and Bug each committing to Christ and following in Baptism!  But we also had the sadness of the departure from this world of a life long and good friend, Shot Walker.  I want to declare now that I plan to be flying in the blogosphere much more often in the weeks ahead.  So come by, get a cup of coffee and sit down by the fire.

Not Old: Fortunate

Recently read a post entitled Wanna Feel Old?  Read the Beloit College Mindset List. .  While I can't say that it actually made me feel old, it did make me reminiscent of an era that has passed.  My thinking ran and ranged from childhood memories, to my own experiences with technology, to my children's and their friends' craving to be instantly connected to one another 24/7. 

When Pete & I married we bought a brand new Curtis Mathis TV that came with a new VCR, free for a year.  At the actual time we got it, there were no stores in our town at which to rent a movie.  We had to make 25 min runs to a nearby larger town to rent VHS tapes.  Needless to say, we didn't use it much at first.  But before the year was over, there was a video rental store at the end of our road.   We used it more, our free year ran out, they wanted $1000 for it, so we said thanks but no thanks.  Four or five years later we bought one second hand.

In that case we were ahead of the crowd.  Other times we've lagged behind.  In the 90's Windows and the www started spreading all over.  Average folks were buying computers, going online.  In 2004, Pete brought home our first computer.  A second hand one from where he worked, running Windows 98.  We knew nothing about PCs.  Turned out it had no sound card, no modem and only a 3gig hard drive.  Now, we have almost 6gigs of music alone on our PC!  But it gave us our first glimpse of the www and gave Bubba the Office tools he needed for high school.

Phones.  When Pete and I married we were on a  3 party-line with rotary.  Within just a few years we were the only ones on the party line, but our rates were locked in.  We never upgraded to touchtone, just to keep our party line.  Once, when Bubba was small, a man from AT&T called trying to get us on caller I D.  Well, that would mean upgrading and more $ per month.  And as interesting as it might be we didn't really need it.  And I had a hard time making him understand why we didn't need it.  In fact, he got down right mad at me.  The conversation went something like this:

Him:  With caller ID, you'll know who's calling.
Me:  I'll know as soon as I answer.
Him:  But, you'll know before you answer and won't have to talk to them if you don't want to.
Me:  If I don't want to talk to them, I'll just say so and hang up.
Him:  If you miss a call, you'll know it. 
Me:  So?
Him:  If it were important you can return it.
Me:  If it's important, they'll call back. 

He didn't make his sale.  We moved later and with new service lost our party line rate, and while all new installs are touchtone, we still have NO extras at all on our line.  Our phone bill is approximately $25 a month...what's yours?

A couple more background tales, and then I'll proceed with what I came here for.

I remember when Bubba was in grade school we were going to be gone for the Thanksgiving holidays to our deer camp.  One of his little friends asked him what the phone number was there.   Bubba told him there was no phone. As their conversation continued, this little fellow couldn't imagine that we were going to a place with no phone, no running water, no electricity.  Just coal oil, firewood, butane and crickets.

A few years later when he was in Jr. high, some of my co-workers were decrying the $100+ they were having to spend on their students shoes.  They couldn't believe Bubba wore $20 Wal-Mart shoes.  I explained my reasoning; one, his feet were still growing.  Two, he was very rough on his shoes.  Third, his daddy earned his living in a pair of $120 Red Wing work boots....there would never be a day I'd spend more on his shoes than the ones that provided for him.

Now, I'm getting around to it.  Bubba reached high school.  More and more friends had cell phones.  Once again, there was no need, no point in him having one that we could see.  There was a pay phone in the school lobby.  If it were a crisis the office would call.  To and from school he was on the bus.  Then he was at home where we have our highly dependable land line. 

Eventually, Bubba worked enough and made enough at odd jobs and on breaks that he had his own spending money.  At first he used a lot of it to buy camouflage and other higher priced clothing.  Then he got into car stereos, amps and speakers.  Once he had his job at the feedstore and steady income, he got himself a cell phone.  Bully for him!  That's fine.  I have played with it and used it to make pictures to use on the computer before we had a digital camera.  We have borrowed it when we were going on a long trip and calls back to home would normally be long distance.  There's times we've been worried about him and found it reassuring to call and know what was going on.  After the hurricanes, he had service before we had our land line back. 

Technology in and of itself is neither good nor evil.  I believe God gifted man with intellect and skills to think, design, and craft things to help him explore his world, solve problems he encounters, etc.  But as Bubba reached his later teen years, my heart has cried for him and his friends and this whole must be instantly connected every moment of the day generation.  They rob themselves, cheat themselves, and often hurt one another with the likes of cell phones, texts, im's, MySpace, Twitter and such. 

They assemble together in twos or in groups.  There they are, face to face.  Time together with a good friend, a date, their buddies.  But they are constantly interrupted and caught up in outside contacts via their technology.  Conversations aren't as deep as they could be, there's no time to just chill and share silence together.

They make mistakes like every generation.  They hurt a friend, break-up, etc.  They make unkind comments, a joke goes too far.  There's anger. They have no time to be alone and reflect.  To cool down.  To feel sorry.  To miss someone.  To think for themselves without constant input from other persons and sources.  To pray.  To cry. 

I feel fortunate because I know what it is to wonder for hours or days if he really liked me.  That I've had time to kick, scream, cry, calm down and see things from someone else's point of view.  I've had long, rambling conversations with friends and family without distraction.  I've had the excitement and anticipation build to a fever pitch waiting to share good news or a surprise. 

I'm thankful that my children, though they may use social media far more than I ever have, have also experienced life lived slowly.  May their souls remind them of that when they need to unplug, wind down, recharge.

My Beginnings - Remembering J-Land

Seems that recently an anniversary came and went.  One for AOL's now defunct journal (blog) community.  It was known to those who participated there as J-Land.  And it was a place unlike any other I have come across on the web. 

I stumbled upon it quite by accident.  Read a few journals and thought "this might be for me, the medium I was looking for".  Back then, April 2005, Pete worked full time and I was a full time housewife.  I was looking for a little social interaction with other women and an outlet to share my faith and experience in Christ.  I found so many warm, real people there!  A mixture of evangelicals, Catholics, atheists and a sprinkling of others.  The wealthy, the poor and a big slice of middle America.  With a smattering of blogs from the British Isles and elsewhere.  There were entries of the daily grind, life's tragedies and celebrations, thought provoking issues, cartoons.  We became friends there.  Extended family.

We made fun of AOL (AOhell), made suggestions to AOL.  They tweaked and tried to listen.  Tried to be as involved in our community as we were.  Then one day someone said journals weren't profitable for AOL and we were asked to move or save our materials.

Most of us came over to blogger.  Some gave up blogging all together.  A few looked for other hosting.  As devastating to the community as the move was, I don't think it impacted us as much as the fast rise of other social media, like Facebook, did.  I, too, tried it but soon tired of it's nonsense games and short, quick status updates.  It was like a steady diet of candy instead of meat & potatoes.  

So much has changed.  Among ex J-Landers, here on blogger and in my own life.  I had a son entering high school and a pre-schooler, now I have a young man and a girl going into middle school.  Pete & I have slowly changed places with me working full time and he at the house, doing what he can, waiting for answers to his health issues.

But one thing has not changed.  No, two.  I'll never forget J-Land and the folks from there that have helped, encouraged and enlightened me.  And I still love this medium first and foremost on the web.       

The Most Important Question

I've heard it put that the most important question in anyone's life, religion, philosophy, etc. is "What do they do with Christ Jesus?" My dear friend, Carolyn, has recently made a post that will help you explore that question and others. It is my prayer and hope that all who see this will go on over and read her words. "Who Do You Say I Am?"

Organizing Caneyhead?

Although provided with a full archive of entries, I find it very frustrating when I go to search and find a specific one. Some I know a certain person would enjoy and want to point that entry out to them. Sometimes I desire to read through an older entry before I post a current entry. And sometimes I just feel sentimental and want to re-read a special entry.

So, in order to help me find what I want when I want it, I'm adding some things to my sidebar. I invite you to explore them and use them to help you navigate your way around Caneyhead to find what you are most interested in.

First, there is "Search this Blog". Sometimes it gets me just where I want to go, but more often than not I am better off just doing a regular Google search to find what I am looking for.

Then below my "About Me" I am adding "My Personal Favorites". These are entries I either enjoyed making more so than others, or where I was striving to share something special. Sometimes about Caneyhead and my life....sometimes insights into my faith.

Next, under my link to Donna's Timeless Treasures, I have "Remembering Family" where I am attempting to list all my entries that focus on a certain family member.

Under my Honest Scrap Award I have added a cloud of labels I have used on different entries. I plan to work my way through adding other labels to previous entries to make them more easily accessible by subject matter.

And then, lastly, is the Blog Archive which though tedious to use does list every single entry ever made here.

So, keep your eye on the sidebar in the weeks to come. Never know what might turn up there that you missed out on the first time around.

Meeting The Family

By and large, Pete's family was big, loud, fun, warm and welcoming. But that didn't stop some of my first meetings with members of it from being odd or funny. I'm going to share a few of those experiences with you here:

Irene

One weekend Pete told me that his Aunt Irene had been wanting him to come, visit and kill some rabbits for her and asked if I'd care to come, too. I accepted. Irene lived down a fairly long dirt road/drive that dead ended on her property. An average size brick home behind a chain link fence. Irene was a widow and a diabetic that lived alone. Like so many in her family, she was warm, welcoming and loud. Ready to laugh and cut up.

She met us at the front walk way. Obviously excited and happy that Pete had put her on his agenda. As she ushered us inside and I stepped into her living room my eyes saw the largest collection of whatnots I have ever seen in my life! Every single space in the room was home to all it could hold. Fascinating! But I shuddered at the horror of having to dust each and every item.

Irene loved a hot, fast game of Yatzee. So in no time at all she had the card table set up and ready for us. We played game after game into the wee hours of the morning and had a blast doing so. She was a cut up. And Pete loved teasing her. I laughed so much that night my sides were sore for days.

At the appropriate time after dark, we paused and Pete took his headlight out and his gun and shined all around and killed for her the rabbits she had been wanting. When he was through hunting he called me out. Seems I had a job....to hold the rabbits while he skinned and cleaned them! (I was a country girl, but my Daddy never hunted or fished anymore by the time I came along. This was all new to me.) So after being a little grossed out and sustaining a few flea bites, I had been indoctrinated in the art of rabbit cleaning. For any city slickers, the flea bites were because the rabbits always have fleas, and the fleas go to searching for a new host not long after the one they are on is dead.

Irene was tickled and delighted. She could cook the fried and smothered in gravy rabbit she had been craving and had some for her freezer. We became friends and in the first few years after our marriage, I sometimes run errands or did shopping for her. Sadly, her heart disease took her from us before Bubba was born.

Hannon Rufus

One evening, Pete picked me up and told me they were having a party at his brother Benny's and that was our destination. Once again, down another long dirt road/drive in Caneyhead to emerge in a clearing with a trailer house and a host of folks outside under a large oak tree.

We pulled in, in Pete's little red AMX with Pete driving and me in the passenger seat. Perhaps I just wasn't thinking, but I went ahead and opened my own car door and stepped out. Immediately to see a small framed man, shirt half tucked in and half out, a two day stubble on his face, wobbling and swaying, walking my way with his arms outstretched and hollering "Hey, there darlin', give ol' Hannon a hug!" I had no idea who "ol' Hannon" was, but I was sure of one thing....I didn't want him near me or on me. I called out, "Pete! Pete, come get this person away from me!" Everyone under the oak was laughing, and even Pete when he came to my side was chuckling at me. He held out a hand and stopped Hannon a couple of feet short of me. He told him to slow down, hold on. She's new here. She's not used to this. Hannon staggered a little and quizzically looked at Pete asking what was wrong, he just wanted a little hug and a kiss. Pete put his arm around Hannon and led him away from me, explaining further that he had to let me get to know him first.

That was my first encounter with Pete's 1st cousin, Hannon Rufus. Yes, when he drank, he became a very lovable, clumsy drunk. But I later discovered a very genuinely warm and kind man when he was sober. He was a very hardworking, skilled hand. And everyone around would come to him to get their hogs scraped. It wasn't long before I would happily give ol' Hannon a little hug if he asked. Sadly, he's no longer with us either. Bubba got to know him, but Hannah was too small when we lost him to really remember him.

Darlene

For many years there was an old cafe in town called the Bluebonnet Cafe. One morning after an especially late night, were were hungry and Pete suggested the Bluebonnet for a good breakfast. He was hungry for cream gravy and biscuits.

We went in and sat down. A perky, blonde waitress came over and gave us menu's and was delighted to see Pete. She had to hug him, teased him about finally coming by to see her. He asked for his cream gravy and biscuits. Probably too late for that, she told him. But he went on about how surely for him she could find some. Wink, smile, wink. She said how for him, she'd make it herself if she had to.

I didn't say much, didn't ask anything. Didn't know what to think. Thought it best to just see exactly what went down. Our food was served and it was good. We ate and she came back and forth checking on us and cutting up with Pete. When we were about to leave, Pete pulled out the money for our meal and an extra $20 for a tip, explaining he knew she could use it.

We were on our way out, and she come up and hugged him and said, "Thank you Bubba!"

This was my first encounter with Pete's baby sister, Darlene.

Janie

One weekend, Pete said we were going to go stay with his 2nd cousins, Punk and Janie at their camp at Bush Lake. I packed for the weekend, complete with all my makeup and contact lens equipment. About halfway into the camp it was like we fell off the civilized world. No real road, just a trail/road through the woods that reeked of stagnate mud. Only someone experienced in driving in these conditions stood a chance of getting through without a 4-wheel drive. We arrived to find a large rambling camphouse that was covered in old newspaper tin sheets! You could still read the old stories and advertisements! No electricity. No running water. An old hand pump on a well outside. A number 3 washtub at the back door of the camp was the only hot bath to be had. Or in the summer you could take a bar of Ivory down to the lake. There were beds galore! Old beds in three rooms....approximately 7 or 8. And many a night in deer season or the middle of summer, every bed was full. Chickens free ranging all around the surrounding woods. A small butane icebox in the kitchen and two old buckets kept full of water with a ladle sitting on a small table beside the stove. Large flaps all around the house that could be raised in warm weather. In the cold they were down and a big old wood stove in the main room was kept stoked and hot.

Janie was short, round and pleasant. She had no problem handing you a bowl of potatoes and telling you to get them peeled and cut up, or starting a bowl of fried cornbread mixings and telling you to finish it and get it on the stove. She had a habit of dipping snuff, which was my first experience seeing a woman use any type of tobacco other than an cigarette. She loved camping and hunting. Her and Punk would play 42 at a drop of a hat, for hours on end and many came just to play with them. But her love above all loves was white perch fishing.

Now every moment when Pete was not by my side Janie was talking about Pete or feeling me out about what I thought of him, how I felt. But the next day, after a big breakfast of pancakes she and her grown and married daughter, Sis, took me out in the boat for some perch fishing. Or at least that was their cover. This was actually a two and half hour presentation on the virtues of and the possibilities that could be Pete married to a good woman. Apparently, Janie had sized me up and thought me an acceptable candidate. And since Pete stayed with them most of the time in that period, she apparently had an inside track, probably from observance of him on how Pete felt and the possibilities between us. Janie had that way of watching folks and knowing almost more about them then they did themselves.

To sum it up, this weekend was totally different than anything I had ever experienced before on many levels. But I came to love Bush Lake, Punk & Janie, and so many of our best times and warmest memories center around them and that place. Janie turned out to be one of my favorite people in Pete's family, a good friend and a joy to be around. We got up to plenty of adventures and a little mischief over the years.

The beloved old camphouse burned down one year. A new one was built in it's place, but nice as it was, it lacked the charm and fun of that old original. We lost Janie in a car wreck. Lost Punk a few years later. All is gone. But none will ever be forgotten.