When I think of my Grandparents

I think of the farm they lived on when we were young children in the 1950's

My cousins all thought that was a big house when we were kids in the 1950's.  Funny how when you are an adult you realize how small it really was.  

We used to like to sleep out on the upstairs sleeping porch in the summertime and you could see all across the pasture and to the barns. 

 Grandma and Grandpa milked and we used to like to separate the milk from the cream in the basement.  I still remember that old separator, the bench it sat on was still in the basement room along with the dank smell that only an old basement has in 1993.  We also had to pump water from a well to carry into the house.  It had no running water, so that meant no indoor toilet.  I would just die if I had to live like that now.  You forget how spoiled we are now and how much has changed over that last 50 years.

This is also the house that the Butman's were building, friends of my grandparents, when my Mom was born in August 1923.  It was 110 degrees and they took the new baby over with them to see the house.   They say Mr. Butman saw them drive up and he stepped right out through the open porch window to get to hold my mom, the newborn, and the story was it was so hot they made homemade ice cream and fed the new baby.   Maybe that is why my mom loves ice cream to this day 88 + years later.

This is my big brother who loved that farm and didn't ever want to go anywhere but to Grandma's!

This is also where I learned to love horses.  This was Dusty and he was the best horse and was great with the kids.  My brother loved that horse.  It belonged to my uncle and we were all devistated when Dusty ate some loco weed and died.  

The farm was for sale in this photo in about 1993,  part of a large parcel broken up into smaller acreages,  it had been bought in 1962 by a family, then sold again and for 30 years or so you couldn't even drive down the road because of a padlocked gate until this sale.   

This is a photo of my mom and I in front of the barn door taken some 40 years after my Grandparents left the farm to move to town.  




  When I walked into the barn all the memories of that barn and my childhood memories of it came to me and transported me back to when I was about 5 years old and the smell was exactly the same as I remembered....way back then.  I have been in lots of barns over the years but this one smelled different and the same as it did the last time I smelled it in 1962..... 


 It brought tears to my eyes and a overwhelming feeling of the loss of my grandparents and my cousins as we were as kids playing together gathering up eggs and running with the turkeys my Grandma used to raise.  Thinking of my cousin Kathy going to get  eggs from under a hen that had other ideas, chasing her, pecking her legs, and me laughing mercilessly!  We were all together then and happy as little larks, now my grandparents are gone and my cousins are scattered to the wind all over the country....  Time changes,
people pass on, but the memories are always there.  

Who wants to sweat??????

This has been one of the, no let me correct that, the hottest summer in the history of our state of Oklahoma in recorded history, plus Oklahoma was recorded that July as the hottest state with the highest average temps ever recorded in the history of the lower 48 states! That being said we haven't done much all summer, it was just too hot to want to do anything much.  You get in the car and you just about hear the water sizzling out of your body!  We had several days well over 110 degrees and one day was 116 degrees. 


This is just the weirdest thing because we had a state record low of -27 degrees in our town this past winter also......  I like seasons of change but this is just too drastic.  

Really the only thing getting done around here is that we have been getting a deck built and I am excited about that and it should  be finished next week.  We still have to put up the iron deck railing, the steps are not done yet, and the side facing the photograph will have a screen for privacy to the neighborhood side.  Plus we are having stone foundation laid at the base to cover the under side.  Our friends Keith and Mike are doing the carpentry and as usual they are doing a great job.  

Sunday Stills-spring is showing off around the yard

Two WEEKS IN FEBRUARY

I am hoping this is the last of the snow photos for this year, well at least until next December!

Three weeks ago we had that record breaking snow blizzard and then within another week we had

record breaking low temps of -28F degrees along with another bigger snow of 13 inches at our house. Some places within 2 miles east of our house had 20 inches the second time and 14 inches the first snow, with about only half melting before the second time around. We usually have snows when the temps are around 

28 to 30 F

and it will stay around a day or two and then

be gone....

Well this is Oklahoma....

they say if you don't like the weather in Oklahoma,

just wait a minute and it will change.

Well it lasted a little more than a minute this time,

the children all missed 2 weeks of school due to snow.

We usually never have more than 4 snow days missed during a school year because of snow....

Snow, snow, snow

I was afraid to give Lexi her haircut for fear she would freeze to death!  I did break it up in 2 sittings, because my old knee

still gives me fits, especially in this cold weather.  If you notice

her little ears are still shaggy. 

There, I finally got to the ears done and now they are not shaggy! 

I started Obedience class with Lexi today and she did real well for her first class and acted like a little lady.  I was afraid she would be like ricochet rabbit, but she wasn't!  Weird!!!

And you know what the other weird thing about today was....

It was 85 degrees and the snow is gone,

now if now you figure out that temperature difference in just 8 days......

well, this is Oklahoma, but that is almost scary!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Oklahoma Sunset

To Grandma's house

We walked across the street so Jackie could visit her Grandma and play with her little Lexi girl.  

Jackie has been going stir crazy just like the rest of us with this

weather. 

 It has been so deep the dogs don't like

being out, it is just too much work to try to get 

around in it!

Lexi just can't figure the snow out.  She looks at it and jumps up and down trying to decide what to do. 

 Finally she jumped out into it and gave it her all, the Girls got their exercise today!

Lexi had a hard time catching up to Jackie, she just isn't used to plowing through the snow.

Lexi tries to run on the top of the snow...

and Jackie just plows through

Here I come Momma!

I am trying to keep up !

Poor little Lexi, her hair is soaking wet and the snow is all balled up in it.  She needs her haircut

but I am afraid she will freeze when I cut it off.  To get the snow off a Schnauzer you have to put them in a warm tub of water to melt it off.  Jackie laughs because you just have to hit her with a towel and she is dry.  

I am going to trim her before Thursday, because that is our first day at beginner

Obedience class and I don't want her to be embarrased!  

I just hope the dog isn't smarter than the trainer.....

SNOW, SNOW, SNOW, SNOW...........

We got another foot well 13 inches to be exact today.  Gee the snow had not melted from the last one and here we have another 13 inches piled on top of that.  It is pretty but I am getting tired of it...I mean there is only so long that you can stand being held up in the house!  

The birds are eating more birdseed than ever, but I have noticed since it is so cold the squirrels aren't out and about, they are like us held up in their little nest.  

The snow is deep enough today you can't see the steps.

but that did not bother Whacky Jackie....

She decided to go check on the cardinal nest..

but she didn't get them stirred out of the bush.

we also have our own small snowplow......with a little tail attached to the back.  :)

She has been wearing alot of white snow on her nose

for a little bling an shine.

then around the bend she comes.....bending into the curve

with the precision of a fine racer.....

with top speed to come indoors 

because her little toes got cold....

We are still snowed under...

Today was the first day that I went out with my husband in the truck.  He ventured out yesterday but I stayed in.  Our neighborhood streets are still pretty snow packed. 

The field on the way to the Post Office

Jackie is finally getting out in it and having fun. 

 She loves to eat snow, stick her head down in it, just plain act like a goof!

She is just plows through like a little mini snow plow

She is so darn cute
I know I am just a softie
but just look at that face!!!!


You have to admit, she is darn cute!!!!