Well, we left Danville Monday morning full of expectations........sun, sand and surf! We got to Atlantic Beach about 3:30 PM ready for 5 days of fun.We decided to walk up to check out the pool first and Cindy and Rachel got in for a few minutes. Good thing they did, cause it rained and showered and the wind blew cool for the rest of the week. I DID have fun, tho. I read 3 books, rested a lot, and ate even more. Since the weather was too bad for anything else, we cooked and snacked quite a bit. I think Cindy got tired of our togetherness, but I really did have a good time. I just really hated coming home a day early, tho. This morning I put on my swimsuit and went to Susan's and got in her pool and laid out for a while and now I have a sunburned nose, (sorta like Rudolph) and some red thighs. BUT, I'm gonna be ready when I go back again, to the beach, that is. I'm not gonna be a little white doughboy looking person, but one who is well done!

Reflections 6/21/02

Today would have been Boots' 79th birthday.I remember when I first met him and asked him when his birthday was and he told me that his birth certificate said June 21, but his mom had been in labor for all of the 21st and when he was finally born it was after midnight......actually the 22nd, but the doctor had been there at the house for most of the day and when he was finally born, the doctor put the 21st on his records. I dreamed about him last night. Not how he was in his latter years, but how he was a long time ago. When we were dating that first summer, we used to go to some "ole swimmin hole" he knew about and take a cooler and stay all day. I wish I could remember where it was cause it had a nice big smooth rock you could sit/lay in the sun on and also pretty deep, but not too deep water that was so refreshing. There were usually a few other couples there and maybe a family or two and everybody acted like they knew each other. We used to have a really good time. I remember once when we were dating we decided to go to Elkhorn one Sunday afternoon. Richard was just a little boy and he wanted to go so we took him with us. Boots had this pretty blue 53 Buick Special that he was crazy over. Well, just before we got to Elkhorn, Richard had to pee and instead of telling me so we could stop, he just peed on the floor mat of Boots' car. I thought Boots would get mad, but he didn't. When we got to the lake he took the mat down to the water and rinsed it off and by the time we were ready to go home it was about dry. But what was so neat......Richard didn't wet his shorts, he carefully pulled "it" out and aimed it at the mat. Well, he was only 3 and he didn't really know Boots, so I guess he "did what a baby has to do". I also remember one birthday Geraldine and I decided to have a cook out at her house to celebrate his birthday. This is when our backyards joined and the kids were little. Well, we cooked steak for the grown ups, hamburgers and hotdogs for the kids, made a B'day cake, snuck all the presents up to Geraldine's yard and got everything ready and called Boots to come up and he absolutely refused. So we ate without him, let the kids take turns blowing out the candles and I took the presents home and hid them for about 2 months before I finally gave them to him. He could be "set in his ways" sometime. But as I sit here writing, it doesn't seem so long ago. I guess time DOES fly when you're having fun.

Of Mice and Men 6/22/02

About 3 weeks ago I discovered that a tiny field mouse had come into the house and had nibbled my cantaloupe seed. I really didn't want to kill it so I found a mouse cube at Wal Mart. A mouse cube is a little clear plastic box with an opening at one end which only swings open inwardly.When the mouse goes in to eat his peanut butter chips, then he can't get out unless the box is turned upside down. Then he can run out. So.........I caught one and took him outside and turned him loose in the yard next door. I reset the cube , not really thinking I would catch another one, but guess what??? I caught another one that very night. I didn't want to go all the way to the yard at midnight, so I took it to the deck and turned the cube upside down; the lil mouse jumped off the deck; sat there for a minute and then took off running. It's a pretty good jump from my deck, about 10 feet, but those lil suckers are getting really good at it. Tiger the cat is no help at all. I showed him the cube with the mouse in it and he looked at it and returned to the love of his life.....crunchy cat food. So, I guess in order to be mouse free, I'm gonna have to get a real trap that will put them and me out of our misery. I really hate to kill the little things cause they are so cute, but I'm about convinced that Dave was right when he said that the first one after being released went and told his friends about the new restaurant, which fed you really good peanut butter on tortilla chips and then took you out and released you in the nice cool night air. They just keep coming back. Or maybe, I only have one mouse and he just keeps coming back. Maybe I'll put a little aluminum band on his leg so I can tell if it's the same one or not. Any body want to help me???

Just Doodling 6/23/02

So many things are always changing....our little church is in the midst of losing our pastor and ever since he announced his leaving way back on March 3, our attendance has really dropped off. All the younger ones who had been coming, now show up once in a while.....maybe one last week and a different one this week. Why?? Are they coming to church to worship the pastor or to worship God? I look around and see the old faithful ones.......the ones who are always there and who really want the church to go on as it has for the past 65 or so years. Well, not as it was "in the old days", but a new, better church with a bright new congregation looking forward to the future. Is Pastor Glen the one to work this miracle? Or is it to be us, the tried and true faithful? Or all of us.....Pastor Glen, us and God working together? Only time will tell.