Clyde's Last Ride

Charlie said a couple of hours ago, "Guess Clyde has a new address now." I hope it is an address with green fields and lots of girls. Clyde deserves that kind of life.
Except for the occasional dispute with the neighboring bull, and slipping out at night to travel down the road and eat the neighbor's hay he wasn't all that bad. Well, there are the bent panels where he tried to get to the hay that was supposed to be his winter meals, but other than that...then there was that day in October 2009...that's another story all together. This one is about his last day in Paradise.

Cat Capers...

This was a good day. Got up, got breakfast, got ready and got to church on time. After a good Bible class and sermon we went to Shinola's and had lunch with friends. We GOT back home somewhere between 1:00 and 1:30.

I was in one end of the house and Charlie was in the other. I heard a noise, but thought maybe the icemaker dropped some ice. Heard it again about the time Charlie came through and asked me a question. Started reading the paper again when the noise got louder!

Charlie said, "What's that noise!?"

I said, "Thought it was you!" About that time I noticed catfood scattered between the pantry and the buffet...then there was a LOUD rattling sound again! Charlie opened the pantry door and two very miffed furballs practically fell out!

The catfood sack was empty and what was left was scattered all over the pantry and out into the hall. Two overstuffed cats drug themselves into the dining room and collapsed on the ceramic tile.

Occasionally one of them gets trapped in a closet or bathroom behind a closed door, but both of them at the same time had never happened!! The only thing we can figure is they were both in there checking out the food supply and one of us came from the backside where we couldn't see in the pantry and shut the door!

By the time we returned from church tonight they were complaining about not having any food, even as their sides still bulged.

Charlie said, "They are hungry!" and I said, "Are you kidding!! Look at them!"

Then he said..."Well,, look at us! And we're hungry!" Did he really have to mention that?

Opened the pantry door. Kia looked in from a distance and Mattie took off the other way. Wonder how long the lesson will stay with them. I need to tell them the story of curiosity killing the cat...or getting one stuck in a dark closet for half a day!

March 6, 1836

In the early morning hours of March 6, 1836 one hundred eighty-nine men faced the elite 6000 man Mexican army commanded by Santa Anna. Santa Anna's mission...stop the rebellion in the Mexican province of Tejas.

At the end of the day 189 brave men lay dead. Among the 189 was a simple farmer, a man of the soil, Gordon C. Jennings.

Gordon had left his wife Catherine and their four children on the banks of the Colorado to fight for what he believed in-freedom.

Catherine didn't know for several weeks if Gordon had lived or died; but when she heard a large contingent of Mexican soldiers were burning Texan settlements and coming their way she knew she must take her four children to safety.

Catherine knew their neighbors must be warned of the danger. With the Mexican troops wearing out horses to overtake anything in their way, Catherine set 10 year old Katie on their best horse, bareback. She told her to hurry and ride out with the last family she reached. "No matter what," Catherine finally ordered, "don't come back here."

Catherine joined the settlers that were fleeing toward Louisiana. Heavy rains were flooding the rivers and made travel difficult. 'Young John Holland Jenkins, whose mother was widowed from the Alamo battle was among those helping evacuate the families. He later recalled, "It was pitiful and distressing to behold the extremity of the families, as sometimes a team would bog down, and women with their babies in their arms, surrounded by little children, had to wade almost waist deep in places."

The heavy rains caused the Trinity to swell to five miles wide. One small ferry worked to get the families across the river. Catherine and her family had to wait a week before their turn came. As she waited she thought of her husband and her daughter.

On April 21, 1836 Houston's army defeated Santa Anna at San Jacinto. The battle cry of the Texans was "Remember Goliad! Remember the Alamo!

Catherine and her children returned to the homestead on the upper Colorado. It is said that Catherine dressed like a man to make the Indians think the family was not alone. She remained on the Jennings' homestead even after the children were grown.
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The four children: Joseph never married. He died at the age of 23. Abigail married and raise 5 children. Katie (Catherine Alicia) was married twice. Her first husband was killed by Indians on the Trinity River in Collin County. She and her second husband had eight children Samuel became a Texas Ranger for a short time. He became a rancher. His grave is a short distance from where he lived at Adamsville in Lampasas County.

This is the partial story of one family. There are many families with similar stories. Brave men have fought and died for freedom since time began. May we as Texans and Americans remember the sacrifices that have been made. God Bless Texas. God Bless America and may our lives reflect His love and sacrifice for us.

The Chicken...Our Chicken...I guess...

I am NOT a chicken person, but we have one, a hen actually. We don't purposely have a chicken/hen, it just appeared. A few weeks ago I looked out the back door and saw our two newborn calves lying under a tree in the field west of the house. The cows were grazing close by. It was a nice, peaceful, pastoral scene in the early morning. As I stood there I noticed a bird walking toward the calves, only it wasn't a bird, it was a chicken! Suddenly mother cows were on "Red Alert". Heads came up and one of them charged the chicken, chasing it back under the barbed wire fence. The other cows rushed over and they all surrounded the calves, anxiously looking toward the spot where they last saw the "dangerous creature". It struck me that they had never seen a chicken before.

Later it reappeared. The cows watched it and made sure it kept its distance. They were uneasy, but left it alone. It kept showing up every few days. One morning I went out and took pictures of it. I called it...you know..."chick,chick,chick" and it came to me. Shouldn't have done that, because my compassionate side appeared and now I began to worry about the chicken. Was it lonely? Did it need some chicken feed? Where did it sleep? What did I care! I don't like chickens! Right? Right...maybe. She is kind of a pretty chicken...

It's been several weeks now and she is still here. it has rained a lot and I didn't see her for several days. I thought maybe she drowned, maybe coyotes got her, maybe...Then there she was again. Now she chases bugs while the cows graze. I watched her walking all around them yesterday. I thought surely Apache or one of the cows or surely Clyde would kick her into the next county, but they didn't even seem to notice her.

What will she eat when it gets cold and there aren't any grasshoppers or bugs. Maybe I should get some chicken scratch. Where will she sleep when it gets cold? I wonder where she lays her eggs. Probably in the poison oak...after all chickens are not very smart!

What Was I Thinking!

I consider myself a rather intelligent person. I made good grades in school and went to college. Didn't finish, but that wasn't because I couldn't. It was my aunt Carole's fault that I met a tall, dark, handsome stranger and married him before I finished. And then I managed to raise a family without doing too much damage to their little personalities...they may have a different story, but that's mine and I'm stickin' to it! Worked at a responsible position with the telephone company in Bridgeport and didn't run off too many customers. So why is it that...

instead of staying in my nice, cool house this morning and finishing my cleaning I decided to go see what Charlie was doing in the barn.

Charlie is in his shop and I am about as welcome in there as he is in my kitchen! He doesn't seem to appreciate my suggestions about where he should put his tools, nails, screws, paint...in fact he appreciates it about as much as I do when he waltzes in and tells me one of the shelves in the fridge needs to be wiped off (and doesn't notice I have just mopped, dusted, vacuumed and finished the washing!! So, seeing that he doesn't want or need my help I went out the door and there were the cows, sleepily standing under a tree. But when Clyde swung his tail a hundred flies flew up!!

I told Charlie, "the flies are really bad on the cows." Big mistake. Here he comes with the spray. He tells me to shut the gate...I know what's coming. I'm supposed to "hold" the animal he is trying to spray in the corner of the lot so he won't have to chase it!! First cow, part long-horn...long horns. Second cow...big. Third cow...Clyde.......1100 - 1200 pounds of thundering beef... When all was said and done I was hot and sweaty (making my poison oak itch) and some of the flies decided to land on ME!

I'm a rather intelligent person...but not real bright.

GOOD DOG LIZZIE

Lizzie couldn't go when her family moved to Colorado. She came to live with us.

Lizzie had lived in a safe environment. She had a tall stockade fence between her and whatever was on the other side. She was very brave and protected her family by barking. Good dog, Lizzie.

It was nearly dark the day I brought her home. She enjoyed the ride, and eagerly exited the car. The she realized this was Not her home and the man coming around the house was Not her master! She tried to run away-backward-and slipped the collar over her head, leaving me with a dangling leash and empty collar.

Charles said, "You catch her and I will put the collar over her head." (I always get the good jobs.) I tackled her and she drug me around in the dirt. I was thinking, "So this is what it's like to bulldog a steer..." We took her to the barn and the temporary pen that had been built just for her.

Day two. She hid in the barn and wouldn't come out if Charles was anywhere near her. I bought a harness to walk her with, thinking she couldn't slip it off. The sound of the metal gate scared her. She backed up and the harness came off.

Day Three. I say to Charlie, "This is silly! Lizzie needs to learn you are not going to hurt her, so you go let her out and maybe she will be okay with you." After he left I took my tennis shoes out to the porch to put them on...and there went Lizzie out the front gate, nose to the ground. I think she was tracking her way back home!

I went running down the road, one tennis shoe untied, yelling, "Lizzie, come back!", Charles following in the pickup. She finally came back, but I didn't have the leash. (Not that it would have helped!) I held her collar and started for home. She saw our dog, Kojie, and went to go to her. That was good, but I was walking fast, all bent over and my back was beginning to protest. We were nearly to the backyard when Charles came around the corner with the leash. One look at him and Lizzie started backing up again! She wasn't backing slowly, she was running backward. I yelled, "Stop Lizzie!" That didn't help.

She pulled so hard I went down on my knees. I was yelling at her and Charles was coming, so she turned around to run away. That caused another problem. My arm didn't turn with her exactly, it sort of twisted as I held the collar. Now I'm yelling, "Lizzie you are twisting my arm!" That didn't help either. Charles was coming and I was yelling, so she just pulled harder until she pulled me down on my belly. Now Charles was yelling, 'Let her go!" And for some unknown reason I was yelling, "NO!"

So there I am laying flat on my stomach, watching my arm twist and I'm wondering, "How far can it twist before it breaks?" Now I'm yelling, "Lizzie, you are going to break my arm!" Then I heard him, my hero coming to the rescue! Thump, thump, bump...he tripped over my foot and landed-on my arm. Now I had a 50 lb. dog pulling and a 200 lb. man lying on my arm...

I let go.

Very carefully Charles lifted my arm and helped me up. He said gently, "If she wants to go, just let her go." And resignedly I said,

"NO! I am going to catch that dog!"

I took the leash. With my hair in my face, aching back, untied shoes and stretched-out arm I limped out to the road and yelled,

'LIZZIE! YOU COME BACK HERE!!"

She came.

I clipped the leash to the collar. We came back to the house. Lizzie stayed.

Lizzie is with us still. She barks into the dark of night from the safety of the porch, protecting us from whatever is out there. She even lets Charles pet and feed her. I think she likes him better than me.

"Good dog, Lizzie."

Confessions of a Facebook Convert

Ah Hum.....well, so okay I was w.......wr........wron..........wron...g. Okay I said it! Now I know how Fonzie felt on Happy Days when he tried to tell someone he was sorry! It gets caught way down in your throat and won't come out! Okay, okay quit saying "we told you so!" I followed all of you around until I figured it out. It's a fun way to keep up with everyone. I like being able to know what you are doing. I like talking to friends and having more contact with my nieces than I normally would. Even Glenn talks! But I still say following a forest path that just blogs along is much nicer than speeding down the Ipod, texting, Mp3 (whatever that is), GPS, HDTV,XBoxes,blue tooth (they have whitener for that) highway! :)
I think I will get a good book and grab a granola bar to go with my energy drink..I mean hot chocolate. C U on FB.