Thankful Tuesday/Veterans Day

On this thankful Tuesday I would like to say thank you to ALL our veterans(in honor of Veterans Day tomorrow)! I love American history and I love hearing and knowing about my ancestries participation in our Armed forces and making this country what it is. I love being an American and would not want to be anything else. I'm very proud and thankful for our veterans!

I can trace family members back to the Civil War for certain. I'm strongly convinced that their was a Massengill in the Revolutionary War, but I don't have documents to substantiate it.

This was my Great Grandmother, Sierra Nevada Little's older brother, Jonathon Little. He actually died in the Civil War in the very town I live in right now. I find that amazing. I would love to know where he was buried, but so far we have not been able to determine that.

I also have a Great Grandfather Foreman who fought in the Civil War and was seriously wounded. Although he lived to be quite old, so I'm surmising he survived it quite well. I have visited the spot where the battle took place in Virginia. Some day I'll have all those pictures on my X drive so I don't have to sort thru mounds of pictures.

Great Grandfather Foreman was VERY funny... I have read some of the things he wrote and some of the stories he told. According to him, he was shot in the chest and it moved his heart so he didn't die :)

Thank you Jonathon and thank you GGrandfather Foreman

My Grandma Foreman's brother David McConnell fought in WWI.. I also have a picture of him somewhere in his uniform(next time I'll be more prepared) I was always told that he was "gassed" and he lived a very debilitated life until he died at a fairly young age. How rough and terrifying it must have been for those young men to go to all those places in the world during those years to fight such a horrible war.

Thank you Uncle Dave

Toward the end of WWII, I actually have very spotty distant memories. I can remember where we were living, very near military bases. I can remember putting blankets over our windows at night and I remember the very low flying black airplanes that flew very low when I was outside playing and it frightened me.
This is my cousin Herb who served during WWII and I also had several other cousins that I remember seeing in uniform during that time.

Thank you to all my cousins!

So many of my parents generation were lost during that terrible war.

Here is my dear Uncle Lyle.. How young and handsome he was! I remember very clearly visiting him at Ft. Lewis. It may have been because he was leaving and my Grandma was his mother so that might have been why we went. I know Uncle Lyle served in Porto Rico and really liked it there. He's talked to me about wanting to go back to visit it.

I REALLY wish I had a picture of my Uncle George, but it's in this abyss! He served in Scotland and I've seen a lot of his home movies he took while he was there. I've always wanted to visit Scotland because of him telling me about it.

Thank you Uncle Lyle and thank you Uncle George.

So then we move on to the Korean War or the "Police Action" as it was referred to. I don't know of any close friend or family who fought during that war but I did work for a man named Ed at Weyerhauser, who was a Korean War Veteran

My husband was stationed in Korea for a year in 1958/1959..It wasn't a very pleasant place to be but he has many funny stories so I don't think it was ALL bad :) AND he has also said if he could go back and look around he would, but he's not fond of leaving the country any more.

Thank you Ed.

And then of course their was Vietnam. Our "TV" war. Nothing was withheld from us during that war! We witnessed everything nightly on our news. Walter Cronkite took us on a trip there daily.

My husbands childhood friend Bobby Starnes, was sent there.. He was sent there during the worst of worse times.. It a was horrible, scary time. His first child was born while he was there. I remember attending the Coffee County Fair with his Mother while he was there. Her eyes stayed flooded with tears all the time you talked to her. But Bobby came home and never spoke of the war ever. I remember going to the lake and swimming with him when we first moved back to Tennessee, he was so fun loving and happy, he was never the same. He went on to raise 3 wonderful girls and just a few years ago he and his wife both died within a year of one another.
Thank you Bobby.

And then there was the "First" Gulf War that hit us really close to home and kept us in knots for over a year. We were so sure that our Daddy was going to be called up, but it ended before he had to go. I really felt like we dodged a bullet. A very good friend and fellow Fireman, Eugene London, did have to go and I remember the parades and the celebrations that followed their return. I'll never forget him running into my husbands arms and them high fiving one another :)

Thank you Eugene.

And here is my personal Veteran on the day he graduated from NCO school. Daniel and I attended and we were VERY proud of him and he was proud of himself, because he too is very proud of his country. Believe it or not Democrats can be patriotic and serve with pride! what a concept :)

Thank you my dear ~

I would just LOVE to be in New York this week to see the USS New York made from the Steel taken from the Twin Towers. What an amazing thing to do to honor those Americans. I saw one of the Sailors that was stationed on that ship and he was SO PROUD!

Thank you all of the Veterans past and present!

It's Picture Day~

Christmas picture day! This is because Mom can't find but ONE pic of her and Good Ole Dad this whole year. And it wasn't very good.

Now it's Mom's idea that all of us Canine and Feline children be in the picture and have red neck ribbons besides :) Not "redneck" ribbons but RED. NECK. Ribbons..heheheh

Well let me tell you how all of this went.. First of all Lil Bro Spike has been in a mood for 2 days..he chased Annoying in to Mom's lap last night. Which we all found amusing.

Dad tried his pretty red harness on him first.. He played "Dead Cat..Flat Cat" again! So Mom got the red velvet ribbon cut and placed on each of us respectfully.. That's about the highlight of the picture taking.. It went down hill RAPIDLY!
Can't you just see the look in Lil Bro's face???????? ewwww.. this is not going to be pretty.

I think right here is when he started warning Dad! You know that deep scary growly thing he does when he goes to the Spa? Same sound.

As you can see I am bored with it at this point and am checking out Jesus and the 7th Dwarfs and Annoying, is ready to sprint across the lawn to chase another dog! AND about this time Spike inserted his claw into Good Ole Dad's palm !

And this photo was taken about 1 second before Good Ole Dad THREW Lil Bro :) Notice I AM trying to keep the peace!We finally decided that having Spike in the picture just wasn't worth it.. This pic would have been fine but me and good ole Dad have our mouths open like we are catching flies and Mom thinks it makes her butt look big :)

You'll just have to wait for the winning PICTURE!

And Mom has decided NO MORE group pictures. She tried and tried to find one.. Thought she had and realized sister Tina wasn't in it.ooooops. No more tongues sticking out, ugly faces being made, lips pouting, faces hidden, someone hiding behind someone or someone holding a small dog in front of their face!

It's Always About Me :)

It's Me it's Me it's Penny the Wonderdog..guarder of Emmett Stone Lane~



So Here I am with my beautiful ear with the stitches still intact!!!!! HELLO I was told today I got to go see Dr. Amy and get them out! Sigh~~ They want my ear to heal more so I have to wait the WHOLE weekend.. Not that I wanted the stinging oweeeeeee stuff that goes along with stitch removal BUT I get to see my girls, and they love me:)



So off Down the Road goes Good Ole Dad in his white truck and you know who(ANNOYING (IN CAPS ) gets to go with him.. EXCUSE me this was suppose to be a day about me! So I just sort of follow Dad's truck just a little bit on My Lane! then I do realize that I can't go in to town..sooooooooooooo I go back get my pass.. DID YOU READ THAT.. I got my PASS

And I went behind all the houses down the road.. Said hello to black Bill as I went and greeted my other friends that have to stay all confined! And I go to visit my friends at Schiemed!

Well you won't believe this, you just WILL NOT believe this but even after Dad has told them to just open the gate and let me out this Nosey Office Lady( errrrr very nice caring lady) calls my Dad again to tell him I'm down there. I'm visiting! I have my pass. I hurt nothing.. I just like my head patted and attention. and that nasty little sister of mine has got all the attention and went to town.

Well just about the time they were snitching on me I slipped out of there and just beat it on home! I ran fast in case "THAT LADY" decided to 'help' again. By the time I got home I was really panting and stopped at 'my water' dish aka the fish pond and drank and drank.. Then Mom let me in the house:) Mom's like that, she loves the things I do and never gets mad at me:)

She just wants me to stay healthy and not get hurt, so I will try to do better~

So Dad arrives home and it is a beautiful day.. A BEAUTIFUL day. and he decides to put all the swimming stuff up for the winter. He puts most of it under the house. There is a little door under the house and he can stuff all kinds of stuff in there. There are also all kinds of spider webs under there. (insert Mom's shudder) So I'm busily supervising this project and Mom is handing him stuff and Annoying is doing her annoying stuff and Lil Bro shows up.. Now Lil Bro Spike is a cat. A CURIOUS cat.

OH NOOOOOOOOOOO... He's disappeared under the house with the spider webs.. I TOLD THEM AND TOLD THEM.. no one listens to me~ That boy is CURIOUS!

And of course Annoying is SO helping Dad get him out (NOT)

HELLO PEOPLE!!!!!!!!! Look close,, I see him do you????????? Oh that little Sneaky Snake, and he has that real satisfied look on his face~

So Good Ole Dad lures him out with kitty treats and pounces on him. He stomps off and immediately starts grooming himself because he's covered from head to toe with Spider Webs!!!!! ewwwww ick.........

After the pool toy job, Mom has this wonderful idea about what to do with the Acorns. And it doesn't involve Panty hose :) She gathers acorns, dad gets the hot glue gun and before you know it... WE have roofed TWO houses!



Mom is very impressed with herself and is considering doing the entire neighborhood. :)


I on the other hand found this activity to be a bit on the boring side so I found a sunny spot and laid there and soaked in the rays.. Cuz it is about me :)

Thoughtful Thursday...I can't think!

I wish I could think of some gem to just grab every ones attention! But I'm tired. I'm not thinking good. There are days like this. Yesterday I was able to drive to town, first time in many months, today we walked down the road but it was hard. But I'm grateful that I was able to walk down the road. It's cold though and I don't like cold. I should have worn a hood:)

Today is my daughter's birthday.. I love her.. She now has a teenager who is almost 17 :) Caroline is all I ever prayed for~ You know the kid that screams bloody murder in the grocery store when you tell her NO.. and you just want to get OUT.. yes, she did that to Suzy ...heh heh.. In fact I think she's done lots.. But Caroline is really a good girl and so was and is Suzy. They are both just so full of....... SOMETHING!

Then I had a daughter that was so quiet and peaceful, you would forget she was even there! She would have been an easy child to just neglect, but she wasn't neglected and she made up for all the sweetness when she hit puberty. I can even remember the day. I was brushing her hair, and this sweet obedient child just grabbed the brush and screamed I'LL DO IT MYSELF.. I think aliens got her.

Then there was a long pause and I had a little boy. He was tiny and sweet and very spoiled. But he was always very well behaved. Maybe too well behaved. He was sort of like me and always a rule follower in school. But he made up for it on the skateboard:)

I read and hear from my own kids about how they are up half the night with their kids and I don't relate at all. I think my kids woke to be fed for about a month and then they went to their own beds and slept. It didn't occur to me that it would be any other way. And I would have heard if one of them lost an eyelash! They woke up early and watched cartoons when they got older and Daniel would get scared and come get in bed with us but I don't remember any of this all night stuff. When they were sick I'd be up with them. Tina use to get high fevers and get very weird. She says she still sees strange stuff when he temp gets high.

Penny gets her stitches out tomorrow.. She had a happy face all day. I hope this doesn't hurt her.

Jimmy went to the doctor today and is getting a change in medicine. I hope it makes him feel better. Tina has so much to do.

The Saint and I cooked dinner together tonight. It was very good! I let him clean up:) I'm generous that way.

I watched Survivor and it was better this week. Last week I was about ready to stop watching.

I hate what happened in Ft. Hood.. I just can't wait to hear FOX news reports on this. I won't know though, cuz I have that channel tuned out.. Not cuz the president said to, I did it years ago. It was just easier on my blood pressure.

I saw Bill O on The View this morning and he said Whoopie was jealous of him LOLOLOL.. I just started laughing, she almost came unglued as did the rest of the panel. I'm guessin he probably won't be playing that little bit on his show :) I tried to think later, what he thought anyone would be jealous of him for?

Spike is curled up over here beside me. He shares my office every night just until it's time for him to be put up and then he evaporates!

Mass Murder???????

MMMMMMMMMMM Kay it's me Penny the Wonderdog, just in case you don't know and I have LOTS to report on! Something needs to be done..just sayin~

Last week Dad came home from work early in the morning and I uncurled myself and met him at the truck. Good Ole Dad brought me BBQ ribs that morning. I always love the mornings he comes from work cuz it means I am going to eat WELL!

I might add that it was pouring down rain.. I mean POURING. Dad went in the house and I went out to do my ....... ah hem..... business...

Now this is where it gets hazy cuz I'm not sure exactly what happened but something got my EAR! I just went directly make to bed and took at nap. I think naps are the best thing in the world.

So Mom has been trying to walk every day and even though it was POURING, she convinced Dear Ole Dad that this was a good thing to be doing. And I'm ALWAYS up for a walk, I'd rather walk with Mom then eat...well...lets not get carried away..

So anyway, off we went out the side door umbrella's in hand to walk up Angel Crest Lane... Now you know WHO was the leader of the pack(Annoying little sister) and you know who is NOWHERE to be seen in the rain (Lil Bro Spike).. he might dissolve ya know :)

We had a wonderful walk..warm and wonderful and pouring down rain! Down Angel Crest and back up Angel Crest and across the front yard and into the garage........ now this is where it gets interesting...uhhhh ya remember the ear part? Well, were guessing cause I was running and bouncing and having so much fun that it just open up and started bleeding!

At first Mom and Dad did not know where all the blood was coming from.. It was all over the floor, all over Mom's white car, all over Little Bitty's Gator and it just kept flying cuz by then it was bugging me and I was shaking me head....... oooooops I know, not a good idea.

Dad gets into his rag pile and Mom has a hold of my collar and they discover where the injury is. It's a very clean 2ish inch cut right thru my beautiful ear! Dad tries to hold the rag on the cut to stop the bleeding but I pulled it out cuz it smarted! and I shook my head ALL OVER THEM.. I know I'm so ashamed but hey, a girl's gotta do what a girls gotta do.

So Dad leaves Mom to hold the ear and goes to find gauze or something and tape to see if he can tape it closed so to stop the bleeding.. uhhhhhhh doesn't work.. Remember the rain??? wet????? Tape is not working~

So off to Dr. Amy's I go. Dad puts me in the back of his truck and I'm fine with that, I know all good things happen when I go in the truck. We arrive at Dr Amy's office and she's a lunch...kinda what they expected so they put me in a nice warm kennel with some paper and tell dad they will call.

In the mean time poor Mom has had to wash coats, clothes, the garage floor, a Gator and her white car! It did look like MASS MURDER in there!

WELL....after Dad leaves and Dr. Amy arrives it's decided that they cannot put a shot in my ear to hold me still while they sew it up.. SOOOOOOO I'm put off in La La land... and when I wake up I feel just awful.. Just terrible awful.. This is not like the Spa treatment I usually get! I can't stay awake, I am having trouble standing, I don't want to eat.. oh the misery the misery. All night I stay there and sleep and am just miserable.. my ear hurts, I feel weird and I wanna go home!

My beautiful poor stitched up ear!

Ahhhhh Good Ole Dad is there first thing in the morning to retrieve me. I'm so glad to see him but I still feel very bad and very sad.

He brought me home and for the next three days I'm sadder then sad! but then I start to feel better and Mom doesn't think I need to lay in front of the fireplace any longer! hmmmph, so I go to my igloo with the heater aimed at me :)

So this has been my week... Every day I feel better and fitter and I am loving eating now and my muscles are not sore any longer! Tomorrow I get my stitches removed:) I am a Wonder Dog!

Just one thing, in case anyone asks... there is this Volks Wagon that goes down Emmett Stone Lane and I HATE that car. I can hear it coming from a mile a way and I hate hate hate it. I have tried to sort of catch it but I stop. If I ever get the chance I'm going to eat it!

Mom and Dad bought me something new since I don't hear so good any more:) This is so people can see me... Can you see me??????

Mom calls me "Flash" :)

Spike and the disappearing squirrels!

We know it's thankful Tues. but neither Mom or I feel great so it's going to have to wait for another week~ It should be Thankful Tues. for Suzy's birthday on Thursday, but since last Thursday Mom talked about her birth, we don't want to over do it! :)

Anyway.................

When Mom and Dad moved here they had lots and lots of squirrels! They have lots and lots of Oak Tree's and they attract squirrels~ BUT about a year and half ago Lil Bro Spike came into our family.... Mom LOVES Bro.. I love Bro.. But the squirrels, uhhh not so much:)

This is Mom's Spike.. She loves him so much. She thinks he looks like he's wearing a necklace:) He is marked so pretty!

So back to the squirrels and the Oak tree's.. Remember what "Mighty" Oak tree's grow from????? yep little acorns.. We have LOTS AND LOTS of little acorns~

We've been outside a whole lot this past week, and we have seen only 3 squirrels! THREE! hmmmmmm...who would be responsible for this?????

Yep...Mom calls him a "Sneaky Snake" :) We had one very funny episode with a baby squirrel, Spike, Annoying and uh hem... moi ~ The baby squirrel won that round!

The other day Good Ole Dad went skateboarding on the acorns.. well sort of.. Mom found it amusing~ We have LOTS AND LOTS of acorns!

Mom wants to know something constructive to do with them???????

Thoughtful Thursday 48 years ago~

I was looking at the calendar a while ago and my mind drifted back to 48 years ago this week. I was only 20 years old and I was waiting to deliver my first baby. And when I say I was 20 years old, I mean a very YOUNG 20 year old:) I knew nothin about "birthin no babies!". But I was so excited and miserable but I could not wait to have my very own baby!

All my life I always wanted a baby to WANT me.. I loved babies so much and they loved me except when they saw their Mama's and then they didn't want me! I wanted to have that feeling that this baby was going to want me more then anyone else in the world!

I had every detail of this baby's room fixed up. It was freshly wall papered with Kitties all over it. I had a "Bathinet" and a "Bassinet" and a freshly painted chest with drawers and a little shelf with all sorts of wonderful potions that I was going to apply to this tiny baby that was going to only want me! The bassinet had a beautiful cover around it.. It was small kittens on a cotton print underneath and the top was mounds of beautiful soft yellow tulle that my mother had so carefully hand made and brought to me when she came from Arizona to help with the baby.

During that same week about 3,000 miles away a little boy was celebrating his first Birthday in Tennessee. This little boy was Lindsey and 18 years later these two babies met and got married. I can remember wondering when I grew up where my future husband was and how I was going to meet him and I can remember looking at all my three babies and wondering the same thing, and praying the perfect person was out there waiting.


At that time, in 1961 I was still living in Parkland Washington. In the home that my Mom had purchased after my Dad had passed away in 1955. I loved that big house and it was going to be the house that I brought that sparkling new baby home to.


My dear sister lived in Tacoma at that time and had two little boys of her own.. Stevie and Scottie. Now I loved and love them both dearly but Scottie was the closest time I'd ever come to having a baby really want ME.. We loved each other every day of his life.

This baby's Daddy was far more experienced with babies then I was because he was the oldest of 7, but this was going to be his first baby and he was very excited to. I kept teasing him about needing to learn how to deliver a baby since I might now make it to the hospital. Even now he blanches at the thought!

Every time I see this picture I hurt inside because all Scotty wanted to do was to touch that baby girl! She was less then a week old in this photo and we all screamed at him NOT TO TOUCH THE BABY! I wish I could take that back. I wish I could say, oh Scotty you can pet her head, you can kiss her face you can love on her all you want. I can see him holding his little hands in his lap as he had be hatefully told to :( I'm sorry Scotty :(

But to back track during this week in 1961, my dear darling sister would telephone me EVERY morning at the crack of dawn and several times through out the day.. She drove me CRAZY! It's funny now, so funny because she was just so worried and so excited and she just KNEW it was going to be a girl and she could not WAIT to fiddle with a girl and dress her up and do all things girly. And besides that I was her baby sister and until just a very few days before I gave birth my Mother was still in AZ. and Lea was worried that I was just going to have that baby and not know what to do with it!(she was right)

Also during that week, on Nov 2nd to be exact, my very best girl friend in the whole world, Kay, was getting married. Ever since we were in the 4th grade we had promised that we would be each other's maid's of honor at our weddings. Now she asked me if I could be in her wedding and it broke my heart but I had to decline. Not only did I not look the part :) I was afraid I would foul up her wedding and deliver a baby the night before or something. My due date was actually Nov. 2, so it was just not a good idea. I do remember going to her wedding and even what a wore, a blue checkered top and skirt..and my Mother took me. It was a lovely Church wedding.

So just 4 days after Kay's wedding I awoke with startling pain. I remember being worried that I would not know if I were in labor.. Oh you know, you really know! I awoke with this pain about 2 in the morning and a little more then 12 hours later I had my beautiful baby girl. She was born at Ft Lewis Washington during the middle of the Cuban Missile Crisis. I know this because the National Guard had been called up and everyone decided to have a baby on the Army! At that time there were over 1,500 babies a month being born in Madigan hospital.

Having a baby in those days was no picnic~ It's not in these days either, but back then, your pain and your "birth experience" was of little or no concern to those Soldiers! Just wheel them in here and we'll get em out! She was born chin out with the assistants of forceps.. I know OUCH.. but that's how it was done. By the time the 3 doctors got her out she looked like she had been in a prize fight!

Before they would allow me to leave the delivery room I had to lay there in utter misery, with no baby in site while they ran blood tests. I was RH Negative and so was she so eventually they let me go to the recovery room. I will never forget the mean hateful Intern or doctor or maybe just a male nurse but he was so mean and I just wanted to curl up and go to sleep, I was exhausted, I was in pain and I hadn't even seen my baby!(except for the briefest of glance when she was born). I do remember her Daddy coming in and kissing me and he was so proud. My Mother was not allowed to come in but she peaked around the door to wave at me and I just burst in to tears! Nobody told me it was going to "HURT" hurt.. I mean really HURT and I could not have been less prepared.

Then a couple of hours passed and they wheeled me in to this enormous ward with about 30 other women, all of whom had babies in the foot of their beds! Do you think anyone slept?? But within a few minutes they wheeled my baby in and her Daddy was hot footing right along behind her. I wanted to tell him all about the horrible experience and he just wanted to get his hands on that baby!!!!!!!!

I think it was during this time that we decided on a name.. I always knew her middle name would be "Kay" but the Suzanne was decided after we saw her.. She looked like a Suzy and still does:)

Than something unbelievable happened! They left me to take care of that baby by myself!!! I was so scared I was shaking all over. I held her, I examined every part of her, I rubbed my cheek against hers, I petted her hair(heads were not covered then) Then I laid her on the bed and we had a conversation. I can't tell you word for word what the conversation ways, but it was to the affect that, I had her and she had me and we were off on an adventure. And I knew I was going to make mistakes and I knew I didn't know how to be a mother, but together we would make it! and we did.

This is Suzy about 6 years ago. She has not changed one bit since she graduated from high school except to get more beautiful.

So that's what I am thinking about this thoughtful Thursday.. This week 48 years ago I became a mother. What a wonderful week.