Closing the pool~ Summer is ending :(

Helloooooooooo People.. It's me PENNY from "The Lane" :) I know you miss me ~Oh boy look who arrived!!!!!!!!! LITTLE BITTY!!!!

He came with his Mama, who is brother Daniel's "Kat".. Kat is very special, she comes when Mom and Dad calls for help... and of course she bring Little Bitty. And that makes ALL of us happy:)

Kat love "Annoying".. why???? WHY??? sigh........

They came for a reason.. It's time to close the pool! Bitty is helping his Papa get the "new" cover out of the box. He was VERY excited!

He's so excited he could just almost explode! I said HEY BITTY IT"S A GIANT PILLOW!

He's just so darn cute! never mind he's doing something he shouldn't!

Kat, Dad, Bitty and Annoying are deciding what to do next!

Kat is tying one side of the giant pillow!

Dad is typing the other side of the pillow!

Oh yes and here comes Bitty to ORGANIZE!

Come on now people... just get in line and get this in order.. I DO know how to do it, can't you just step back?????

OH OH Bitty....... He's looking for HORNETS!!!!!!!

No need to worry Bitty, I won't let them past this line!




This is the knot that Bitty tied~ Isn't he talented!

This is the face of Bitty when he tells Mom NO PICTURES!

Mom agreed to let him take her picture so she could take his! she's not sure she got the good end of this!

OOOOOOOOOO Now the exciting part.. THE NEW COVER!

Well Never mind......... it didn't fit.. back to the old cover.

This would probably be the first nail :)

He's trying to pick out JUST the right nail~

OK Papa, you can have the hammer back!

It was a good day~ I got to have Little Bitty and Kat all afternoon.. The pool is covered..Summer is almost ended..........mom's sad about that.

~My Saint is Seventy~

Happy Birthday!!! September 10, 1939 my Sainted husband was born. In a little house, at the end of a little street, in a little town called Daisy. I could just write a paragraph or post a couple picture's but he really deserves far more. He deserves an entire biography, but I'm not quite up to that during the next hour:) I will say that he's the best husband, father, son, brother, uncle, and grandfather that anyone could ask for I can also say he loves his family more then life it's self. And most of all he loves his wife, which I never take for granted

At "Ground Zero" in NYC. One of the highlights of his life.

During the past 3 years he has totally taken care of me, by himself, without a complaint. And I know I'm not always easy to live with. It's hard to be always cheerful or in a good mood when your sick and only he knows how sick I have been and continue to be. Without him I would be lost, he is my everything. And today I wish him the most wonderful 70th birthday he can possible have!

When he was just 17 years old he joined the Air Force and was sent to Texas to get his basic training. He didn't even have a driver's license! When he was 18 he was sent to Korea. A very green kid who had no "worldly" sense at all:) But he went, and he served his country proudly until he was discharged in 1962 and brought his wife and baby daughter to his home in Tennessee.

Now when he got here, he had no guarantee of an absolute job and limited training in the military. I think we stayed with his parents less then two weeks and we got our own apartment and he was hustling for every job he could find. He had jobs he didn't like, he had jobs that were demeaning to him but his wife and child were ALWAYS taken care of and that remained the case from then till now:) There have been time's when he has held 4 jobs, but he did it willingly and without complaint as that is what he was taught you do. Until the last 5 years he's always had 2 jobs, but now he's slowing down and just has is one.. He's an EMT and a Fireman and I'm very proud of him. He even went back to the military when he was 40 he joined the Army National Guard and eventually retired with 27 years of service. Those years of service have provided us with more security then most of the people I know today





We love to travel around this country and this picture is one Christmas Day with Cha Cha in Florida!

It is very hard to even think of this handsome hero of mine to be 70! We were teenagers when we met and I was still a teen when we married. When people ask me how long we've been married I always say my whole life. This is true, my life began when I married him.

June 24, 1960 Parkland, Washington

He was not born in any type of wealth or a family of some sort of high status in Daisey TN. He was the first born child and son of L. E. and Grace Brown. They went on to have 5 more sons and one daughter and he is the big brother to all of them! He attended most of his childhood in Chattanooga and finished his school at the same high school in Manchester that all 3 of his children graduated.

I will never forget how he looked when our first baby was born.

Suzy looking at her her Daddy when she was 6 days old:)

I really didn't know then, how much more he knew about babies then I did! nor did I know then how much he LOVED babies and kids of all ages. I knew he loved my two little nephews Stevie and Scotty. He could not get enough of them! But when his own little girl was born, he was over the moon!

We went on to have another daughter who only allowed her daddy to change her or do almost anything with her till she was about 3!

Tina making "goo goo" eyes at her Daddy in 1963

Daniel and his Dad have spent 36 birthdays together~

Then 10 years later we had our baby boy and I remember the big smile on his face and the thrill that not only he had his baby boy, he was born the day after his birthday!

Daniel on the day he came home from the hospital~



Daddy and his very special girls!

That boy adored his Daddy and did everything with his Daddy. One of his fondest memories is going to the Manchester Fire Hall in the morning to have doughnuts and coffee with the Firemen:) His Daddy wanted to be with him all the time and wanted to show him off all the time. In fact in all these many years of raising children, he always wanted his kids with him wherever we went, and we rarely went anywhere without them.

Now he has 4 grandchildren he adores. He has waited his whole life for them. There is nothing like that first grandchild, nothing ever. And Caroline was not only our first grandchild, she's his only granddaughter! and we had all waited so long for her. Caroline and her Papa were inseparable since the day he picked her up for the first time. Even though we have never lived close to her, he and she are VERY close.

Now THIS is a dedicated Grandfather!

Then we waited another 10 years before the next grandchild! Now of course we have the 3 little boys that he adores. Riley is an amazing "helper" to him, Jimmy brings out his soft side, and Liam and he have this amazing "thing" going~(he is a little Daniel)

Papa's boy~



All the wonderful grandchildren with their Papa

Now another unique quality about him is his love for animals. We affectionately call him "Doctor DooLittle".. If we had the time and money we would have every stray animal in the world in our bed I do believe!

I've never known this man to turn down anyone who needed help, but he has more common sense then anyone I've ever known. I would trust his judgment on any issue.

Mostly this man of mine has a wonderful sense of humor.. Not only does he appreciate other humor, he is the perpetrator of most of the humor in our house and in our family! Life would be dull without him.

So I will end this by just saying I love this man, more then life and I wish him a wonder 70th birthday and pray there are many many more that we can celebrate together

and PS. I would add, that my husband has never had things given to him and we've struggled more then probably the average family, but never does he whine or dwell on what might have been etc. He's worked hard for his family and has done the best he could. and I'll add again I love him dearly.

Fun Family Weekend!

~MY FAMILY~

This is my Family~ I love my Family! oooooops Spike is missing :( He hides when my "Little Peeps" arrive:)

Sister Suzy arrived on Friday night with her Lindsey and Horsey Girl! I knew as soon as they arrived, this was going to be a GOOD WEEKEND!

Saturday morning here comes brother Daniel with his Kat and Little Bitty... Now how can this get any better!

Then in the afternoon Sister Tina with her Wayne and Rowdy and Precious came! Now this is getting way too much fun!

Good Ole Dad got a Chimenea for his birthday and Kat put it together~ She's good at that.. And Lindsey planted some flowers in my favorite flower bed! mmmmmmmmmph....This I'm not happy with~ I'm leaving it alone right now but when they are not looking I may just 'rearrange' it ..

When it got close to sunset Rowdy and Little Bitty gathered up sticks and wood and Dad got a great fire going! Then everyone Roasted Hot Dogs and then S'Mores! I only got 4 hotdogs and 8 graham crackers.. Not sure that part was fair.

Precious got to feed Bill a carrot! He thought that was very funny.

We also gave Tina her late birthday presents. She got cool stuff including her SnowKitty!

The next day, everyone arrived back again and Good Ole Dad grilled hamburgers for everyone! Mom had made potato salad and fruit salad, because those are Brother Daniel's favorite things. We had a bit of a thunder shower but we got to celebrate Dad and Brother Daniel's Birthday. Sister Suzy got Good Ole Dad a beautiful cake and a funny cake.


Bro Daniel and Dad opened lots of presents! I had to stay outside. I'm not sure why cuz I invited my new friend to come to the party and the kids loved that:)


Little Bitty got stung by a hornet and got slammed in a door :( He screamed but he's tough and he just wanted to hang out with all his family!

Everyone headed home and Dad got called to work that made mom sad. Mom's tired but she took a little walk with me and that made me happy.

Thoughtful Thursday on Friday!

Why does my cat come and beg to drink out of the little dogs water in her kennel in the bathroom closet????? he has 4 accessible drinking options!



Last night I was sitting under my large old oak tree and heard it sounding like it was raining. It was ACORNS FALLING! It can't mean fall that would be winter next and I hate winter so bad.



Why when Penny is bored does she feel the necessity to travel around the neighborhood and gather up friends and bring them back to our house?



Why am I hearing this big commotion about our President speaking to the children of the nation about good study habits etc.? I have the vision in my mind of our former president sitting and reading to a group of children when he was told about 9-11. In fact I can think back to Eisenhower speaking to school children.



Why does my husband go buy himself stuff the week before his birthday????????



How can I be married to a 70 year old man????????????



I'm really bummed that Natalie won HOH on BB.



I had a good talk with a woman dr. this week. She had the AUDACITY to say another doctor was 100% wrong :) I love her!



Why do people have to be rude? I ask this because I try very hard to be polite and taught my children to be polite and for some reason in today's atmosphere that's considered weak I think. And the Internet is like an invitation for people to be rude.



TooSweet got a birthday e card from her Vet this week :) I made her sit in my lap and watch it.


I wish my pool were about 90 degrees.

Why do I still have hot flashes and I'm 68 years old?

It can't be autumn I have hummingbirds fighting over the feeders!

I just watched 10 minutes of news...that's my limit..why is there so much hate in our country? Looking back I know when it started about 1990 and it's come to a point that I feel like I'm living in a pressure cooker instead of America.

I got my nails and toes done to day and got sung to in Vietnamese...I love my nail people :)

Thankful Tues/Nurses

Ok.. maybe I should rephrase the title to GOOD nurses. I hold my mother and daughter up as the Standard and all nurses fall short! BUT there are some good ones, some very good ones, some very kind ones and I'm not going to waste my energy on those that are not. Good nurses make it bearable to have to wind my way thru this web of doctors and tests and hospitals and surgeries, and poking and prodding. I'm being totally honest when I say I have lost all faith in doctors. Not that I don't think they are all stupid I just think they no longer care. But the nurses who help me thru all of this do care and are gentle and caring and loving and smart and sometimes very funny! During my different hospital stays I've always kind of held my breath when each shift changes cuz you just don't know what's coming! but by in large the nurses are the caregivers and the carers. and I am thankful that I have them to turn to.

I do have to mention one case in a recent hospital stay when a Registered Nurse told me quite candidly that she didn't know how to put in an IV! Now I have NO idea how this girl got her license but trust me, I didn't want her learning on me and appreciated her honesty!