My wonderful daughter in law, Lindsey called me tonight. Richard had a biopsy of his liver done today. The news is not good.

Without treatment, he has 2 weeks to a month to live. With treatment, and the doctors weren't optimistic at all, he might have a year. Because the cancer wasn't stymied by this last aggressive chemo treatment, they don't think that this next treatment, chemo and biochemical infusion will help much.

Also, my son said that if the treatment makes him as sick as this last three months of chemo did, he does not want it. He wants to spend the best quality time he has left with his wife and son. He doesn't want to spend it laying in bed, curled up and not able to move because he is so weak and sick.

Thank you for all the prayers that were offered. I am heading to Washington this week to be there with him and his wife and son.

Melinda
 

Will you all pray for my son. He has been fighting a battle with cancer for the past year. Last May, after several months of chemo and radiation, he went in for Esophageal Cancer surgery. Then he spent another 3 months on a hard regimen of chemo treatments again. His last treatment was 30 days ago and he was just starting to feel good.

He was starting to enjoy his son who was a year old on June 1st, and was also going back to a job he loves, flying Blackhawks and Hueys in the Army.

Last night he had a severe pain in his side, so severe that he went into the emergency room. They did a scan and found cancer in/on his liver. They said there was quite a significant amount of cells found.

They will get together tomorrow to figure out a treatment plan, but said that a liver transplant would probably be the only thing that would work, if the cancer hasn't spread anywhere else. They will find that out with further testing.

To tell the truth, it doesn't look promising. As I talked to Lindsey on the phone, she broke down sobbing as did I.

My son loves his family and is head over heals in love with his son. I can't stand the thoughts of him not being able to enjoy the future and watch his son grow, and to be there for him.

Please, he needs all the prayers he can get to get through this.

This picture was taken the day before yesterday. They went to an orchard to pick apples and get some cider and cinnamon donuts.



Thank you so very much
Melinda


 

It's a event that happens every year, just like Christmas, Easter and our Birthdays.... baling hay! If only it could be done in the coolness of Fall, or during the evening hours after the sun goes down. Nope, it is done during the hottest part of the season, in the middle of summer and before the dew settles for the evening.

First cutting hay can usually be harvested sometime in June. It really depends on the weather. Two years ago, we had no hay as we were in the middle of a drought. If you happen to be able to find some, it was selling for $7 a bale or more. Last year, it was still up there around $5 or $6 a bale due to the economy and gas prices. Diesel was costing farmers a arm and a leg, plus string for the baler doubled in price as did fertilizer. The only way the farmers could at least make even on their investment was to double their price on the hay to their consumers.

They really hate to do this. Number one, they are farmers and understand the economic throes that cattlemen and horsemen are in. They try to price their hay accordingly so that we can afford it while they can at least pay some bills with the money they make.

This year, weather conditions were almost perfect and gas prices were down. We had a week with no rain predicted, and a few days of low humidity... perfect haying conditions. Mr Slayton called and said he was cutting on Monday, hay would be ready to be picked up Tuesday afternoon.

Hay is made up of various recipes of grasses and legumes. Alfalfa, Timothy, Red Top, Bermuda, Lespedeza are all names of a few of the different grasses and legumes that can be mixed in different percentages to make up a good, edible, horse hay. It is cut and left to dry for several hours. Then it is conditioned and turned into windrows to dry some more. It is turned one last time to make sure it is dry all through the row and then baled.

This year, the price of hay picked up out of the field was ranging from $2.50 to $3.00 a bale. To have it delivered added another dollar or two a bale to the price. We have always just picked it up out of the field to save money. It is a killer job, but at the same time, very enjoyable. I love walking the hay fields and throwing hay, I am just not able to do it any longer.

Thank goodness we had Ricky, my step son and Mark, our farrier there to help us. They made it look so easy.

Over the course of several days, we managed to get almost 400 bales in the barn. This is plenty to get us through the winter.

Here are some pictures of the guys throwing hay. (Oh and Nada... you may have your hairdresser, but you out to see my horse shoer..... whew..... and he is all MALE !!

Here are the guys throwing hay:



This is Mark. He had trimmed the horses that morning and then came back to help us with the hay. He really is a nice guy, divorced with a couple of kids and just a really, really nice guy.



Each bale weighed approximately 65 to 70 pounds. We loaded the trailer up with 85 bales a trip. Then we had to drive home and UNLOAD them !! We made 5 trips to get our total


The weatherman had said that we had a ‘slight’ risk of a thundershower that afternoon. We looked up and saw this thunderhead lingering over the horizon. We had to speed it up to get the hay loaded before the rain came.



We were racing the rain when the bailer broke. It didn’t take long to get it up and bailing again, and the must needed rest was appreciated.



It sprinkled on us for a few minutes, which really felt good. Then it quit and we were left with this amazing sight as we loaded up the last of the bales of hay and headed home.



Whew, what a day. It was hot, sweaty and a lot of fun. I love being out in the fields with the smell of fresh cut hay perfuming the air. Mr. Slayton farms about 2000 acres and it is real secluded farm. You have to drive about 5 miles off the main highway, cross several wet water bridges and cross one creek that doesn’t have a bridge, before you come to his fields. Once you find his fields, it’s another mile or so to his house. He has no close neighbors at all.

He loves it ! He was telling us of the wildlife he sees crossing his pastures and fields during the early morning hours when most people are still sleeping. He has seen black bear and cubs in the streams and small rivers that cross the property. A couple of cougars live on the farm also.

We drove up to the house to pay him for the hay and he invited us in. The house sits on a small rise and overlooks the grass valleys below. Patches of woods add contrast to the different shades of light green fields in various stages of harvest.

He also raises Longhorned cattle. As we drove to his house, we had to drive through a herd and they were amazing. He really doesn’t do anything with them except, when they die of old age or other natural causes, he collects the skulls and sells them. He also had a head mounted on his living room wall.





It’s been a very interesting month. My son recovering from his operation, David’s stroke, Ricky moving in with us, putting up hay, selling my goat herd, working horses and trying to maintain the Almost Ranch itself.

I have more blogs to come. I will try to get in here more often to not only write, but to comment as well.












 

Yep, we are celebrating Aric's first birthday today. His birthday is actually tomorrow, but having the little party today. Lindsey has invited over just two other couples that have children and we are barbequing hamburgers outside on the grill. We have some balloons put up outside and all the outdoor toys set up, including the wading pool, so the kids should have fun.

Richard hasn't felt real good the last few days. I think he has been doing to much and his body is finally telling him to 'cool it'. He felt so good to be out of the hospital, that he has been out and about, putzing in the yard and putting some of Aric's birthday presents together. I told him I would help him, but he didn't want help. Dang men !

So now he is paying for it. He slept most of the day yesterday, in and out of bed. He said he felt a bit better today and he looks better also.

Four more days and I will be heading home to Almosta Ranch. I don't care where you go on vacation, it is always nice to get back home. My nephew and his wife are coming to Washington on June 6th, so they can take over helping Lindsey and entertaining Aric.

The weather here in Selah is amazing. It was 95 yesterday, but the humidity was only 15%. I didn't know humidity could get that low!! It was hot in the sun, but the minute you stepped in the shade, it felt so much cooler. Hot weather and I don't get along. It just drains me when I am out in the sun. It never use to, but now after 5 minutes in the sun, I am about ready to drop. I can handle the cold so much more better. At least you can dress to stay warm. In the heat of summer, you can only take off so much clothing, and you are still hot.

Ricky has been taking real good care of the animals back home. I told David that when I get back, I will show Ricky how to work Billy, our stallion, and then let him ride him. Billy is green broke, which means that he has someone up on him but that is about all. It will teach Ricky patience, as he just wants to get up and ride. He will learn what it takes to get a well broke horse, one that you can eventually just get on and ride.

Gotta run..........y'all take care

 

Yes, as beautiful as the Northwest Pacific area is, I miss the ole Almosta Ranch back in Missouri and my dear husband. I can't wait until my plane lands in Memphis and I am headed home to a man who dearly loves me and whom I love with all my heart. This trip would have been so much more better if he could have come with me.

Richard is recovering extremely well. Gawd, to be young again, although he is really upset that he will be turning 30 in a few weeks. He acts like it is the end of the world, that 30 is the stigma of old age and being forced into giving up being in his 20's sucks big weennies.

He spent 11 days in the hospital before being released. The first week home he could only consume 30cc's of clear liquid once every hour. He is on a feeding tube that connects to a port that goes right into his small intestine, so is never really hungry, but so enjoys his few sips of apple juice or broth that he gets. He has now advanced to a cup of pureed or soft food like mashed potatoes, cream of wheat, malts and shakes. He is having no problems at all so far with digestion.

He will be on soft foods for another 6 to 8 weeks, then they will let him start having chunky stuff. If everything flows right along, then they will take his feeding tube out. He is moving around real well, and only taking pain meds once every 8 hours or so, instead of every 3 hours.

He drove for the first time today, and was exhilarated to be behind the wheel. He has a new jeep that he just bought a few months ago, right before he got sick. I went with him, and he got his hair cut and we took a short ride up in the hills surrounding Yakima and Selah. Mt. Adams stood clearly to the northwest, and Mt. Rainer could be seen peeking over the mountain range to the west. The rivers are running wildly from the spring and summer snow melt, and the air is fresh and warm.

Aric will turn one year old on June 1st. Lindsey is having a small birthday party for him on Sunday, with a few friends invited over for a barbeque and cake. He is such a cutie, walking and running all over the place. He is such a good baby, Richard and Lindsey have done a wonderful job with him. He eats everything put before him, like it was going out of style and hasn't found anything he dislikes yet. He takes his naps without a whimper, in fact, he will ask for a nap when he gets tired. He goes to bed like a tired soldier and wakes up all happy and smiling.

The only time I heard him cry was when we were in the car the other day. It was past dinner time and we had stopped to get some KFC. The smell of delicious chicken wafted throughout the car and he started crying. He was hungry and did not want to wait til we got home. I couldn't blame him at all, as I was having a hard time not sneaking a piece of chicken.

Lindsey is doing good as well. She is tired from all the stress of the last few months, but is enjoying Richard being home again and things returning back to normal. She quit her job and probably won't return to work as she said her paycheck was mostly paying for child care, and both she and Richard would rather she remain home with Aric.

Richard will have to do another round of chemo when he is all healed from the operation. He doesn't know how intense it will be, but he is ready to deal with it when the time comes. Hopefully, that will be the end and he will be cancer free from now on.

David and I have been communicating on IM, and it has brought back so many memories of the days when we first met. I have enjoyed it, but can't wait to get back home. I just wish all of our kids lived closer to us so we could visit more often.

We have made up our mind to sell our goat herd. With my Fibro and PMR and David's mild stroke, we just can't cope with chasing goats and fixing fences all the time. Having Ricky around sure is a Godsend, but if he gets into Job Corp, we won't have him to do the heavy duty stuff that needs to be done. So we will keep just Dolly our fainting goat, and Baby the one we bottled raised and sell the rest. I have a girl that might be interested in the whole herd. It would be nice if they could stay together. I will miss them as they are so dang cute, especially the babies.

With the goats gone, we can turn their pasture into horse pasture and concentrate more on our breeding program. Hopefully 'Lucy' is in foal and I still have Scarlett to bring over. Her kindergarten days will begin this summer in preparation to riding her in another year and a half. I can keep her and use her as a riding horse and future broodmare, or sell her and buy another broodmare that I can breed right away. Not sure what I want to do with her yet, will talk it over with David when I get home.

It would be nice if we could buy the farm next door. That would give us all the pasture we would need for our small breeding operation. I just want to be able to sell two or three 'nice' foals a year to help pay for expenses. Our neighbor told us he would give us first chance at it if he decided to put it up on the market. It all depends on whether I can get disability and how David does with working.

At the moment, it is still hard for David to get through a 4 hour day. He is a lot like me now, in that you can do stuff, but just not a lot of stuff. You wear out easily and exhaustion takes over your body. Even typing makes my hands and shoulders ache and I have to stop frequently to take rest breaks. That's one reason I don't blog as much, it just takes so long. Of course, if I wouldn't get so long winded, it might make it easier !!!

I am gleefully happy though.... my weight is finally starting come down again. The Cymbalta that my doctor put me on seems to be counteracting the steriods and the weight is coming off.... slowly. I have lost 30 lbs so far. I have another 100 to go and I will be estatic. I am hoping that by this time next year, I will be back down to my normal weight, that in itself, will make me feel better.

Thank you all for your prayers and concerns for my son. You don't know how much they were appreciated.
 

Yesterday, May 12th was the day my son Richard was operated on for Esophageal Cancer. It was to be an 8 hour operation and Lindsey, my daughter in law was going to call me the minute the operation was over to let me know how things went. Of course, I was going to worry all day long.

Well, I never got a chance to worry, not even once.

When you have a farm or ranch, no matter how small, things are always happening. There are truly no dull moments. It all started around 4:45 yesterday morning. I woke up to our stallion hollering and screaming. It is a sound I recognized, a sound that meant that a horse was loose. I threw on some clothes and headed out the door. It was still dark as I tramped across the pasture, but 'Billie' was telling me exactly where the loose horse was. He was pacing the fence and staring out over towards the neighbors house. Sure enough, there was 'Lucy' grazing away in their yard. 'Lucy' got rounded up and put in a round pen until daylight came and Ricky could get out and fix fence.

It was close to 6:30 before I climbed back into bed.

I got up around 8 and fixed breakfast for everyone. Then Ricky and I went to work on fences. We fixed the place where 'Lucy' got out and then worked on the side pasture trying to get it fenced so the horses could be turned out on it. We ran out of fence and headed over to my sisters to get a roll of fencing she had left over. By noon time, we had the fence up and the horses were enjoying some nice fresh grass.

We headed into the house to cool down and get a bite to eat. No sooner had we relaxed then a knock on the front door got us up and moving again. Our other neighbors, on the north side of us informed us that the goats were out and in their back woods. They didn't care that they were back there, but thought we would like to know. Well DUH !

So off through the woods the three of us march, rounding up goats and getting them back into their own pasture. It's funny, we just opened up the back pasture to the goats and they have several acres of brush to chew on, but they are always roaming and if they find a break in the fence, they are gone.

We then had to walk the fence line trying to figure out where they got out at. We fixed what we thought were low places and weak places and hoped we had blocked their escape route. We made our way back to the house, pulling dozens of ticks off of us as we walked.

By this time, it was getting to be around 3pm and we all grabbed a glass of sweet ice tea and sat in front of the fan for a few minutes. My sister called and wanted Ricky and me to go with her to get some wood shavings from one of the local saw mills around here. With all the wet weather we have had, her barn is nothing but a quagmire of mud. She wanted to put the shavings in to help dry it up. We helped her and as she was bringing us back home, we turned down one of the many dirt roads to check out a gate that we had seen earlier in the week.

It was an aluminum gate that was just laying in an abandoned field and we were hoping that the owner would sell it to us cheap. As we were driving down this dirt road, not a house in site, we came across four puppies sitting all huddled together in the ditch. They were scared to death, and there was no way my sister or I could just drive on by and leave these poor pups to a slow death of starvation, or let them get hit by a car or eaten by coyotes.

We stopped the car and got out and the puppies took off running. Two took off down the road and the other two ran into the field. We chased puppies for an hour before we finally caught three of them. The forth one we had almost given up on, although we just couldn't stand the though of leaving it all by itself to die. So we walked up and down the road and finally Ricky spotted it sitting deep in the woods. He went in after it and the poor puppy ran like the dickens. He followed it the best he could while my sister and I stayed on the road in case it came out of the thicket.

The puppy finally got tangled in a mess of brambles and we trapped it while I made my way in through the thorn covered bushes. I got close enough to grab a hind leg of the puppy just as he bolted. Then I had to work my way out of the brambles and get back to the road.

We brought the puppies home and put them out in a little pen we have for the goats. They were thirsty and hungry and so scared that they would all huddle up together and tremble when we got near them.

They are a bit better this morning. I went out to feed them and they were playing with each other. When they saw me, they stopped and all huddled together, but I did see two tails tentatively wagging as I went into the pen. I sat down and petting them and talked to them and they all ate. The one who ran from us is still the most scared, and I can't get near her yet. She will run and scrunch up in the furthest place away from you and just tremble. They are all girls and look to be some kind of golden retriever crosses.

Here is a picture of three of them:



I hope we can find some good homes for these little darlings. Ricky wants to keep on so bad. He already has one picked out and named, but we already have 5 dogs and just really can't afford another one. I don't know what we will do. Once before, when he came back home to live with us, he had a little Shepherd cross puppy but it died of Parvo. Then he had a Rottweiler that he had to have put down because he was moving back in with us and this dog wasn't the nicest dog. He would bite and didn't like other dogs and we had two dogs back them. We just told him that there was no way he could bring 'Ozzie' to our house. He cried when he had to have him put down. So I feel kind of guilty and hate to tell him no,he can't have one of these puppies.

It was well after 7pm by this time and we still hadn't eaten, so I fixed dinner. Soon after that, Lindsey called me to tell me that Richard had made it through the operation with flying colors. I had completely forgot about the operation !!!

He was still in recovery and they were getting him ready to move him up to ICU. She called this morning and said that they got him out of bed, just long enough to change his sheets, but he was able to get up and stand with a little help. The operation took just 6 1/2 hours, not the 8 as expected. They didn't have to remove as much of the esophagus as they thought they would, but did take a bit more of the stomach. They had to remove a portion of a rib and collapse his lung to get to the area that needed attention.

So far, so good. Lindsey said that the first 24 hours would be critical, and so far he is doing good.

Everyone take care, and God Bless.
 

David was released by his doctor to go back to work.... part time. He worked 4 hours yesterday and it just about did him in. He said he just doesn't know how he is going to do it. He works another 4 hours today then has two days off before going back in full time.

If he can't do it, he is going to look into the short and long term disability insurance he has. The least little thing just wears him out to the point where he has to get off his feet before he collapses. He thought this mild stroke thing was just a farce, but he is finding out that it was more serious than he thought. He may have to take more time off until his body recovers and gains strength.

It's nice having Ricky living with us. He has been such a tremendous help around the farm. We got the back field fenced in for the goats and they are gorging themselves on all the blackberry bushes and other brush out there. Goats are browsers, not grazers. They will graze on some grass, but their main meal course consist of brush.

We also have the holes dug and trees cut so we can get the front pasture fenced in. We would have had all the holes dug except in his exuberance, Ricky broke the handle on the post hole digger. We also have had rain just about every day for the past week. That puts a hamper on things. Today, he and I will get back out in the woods and cut some more fence post. We have a lot of thinner, tall trees that make excellent post. We will use them for now, and then reinforce them with steel 'T' post as we have the money to buy them.

Our horse herd has increased. Our next door neighbor offered us his Quarter Horse stallion. He is a 5 year old palomino, or to be more exact, a dunalino. I won't try to explain that to those who aren't real horse knowledgeable, it's just a color genetic thing. He is exceptionally well bred, his bloodline going back to the famous cutting horse "Cutter Bill" three times and back to "Hard Twist" twice. In fact, his registered name is "A Triple Cutter Bill", Billie for short.

We am bringing our Quarter Horse mare over here Friday to throw out with him. They should produce a real nice foal, which will be for sale. I wish I had another nice mare to breed to him. Our Morgan mare would cross real nice with him and should produce a pretty foal, but it would be just a grade horse; meaning not being able to register it with a breed registry. With the economy the way it is, grade horses are not selling and a lot of them are going to the brokers (meat man) because people just can't afford to feed them. We don't want to put a foal on the ground knowing that this may be it's fate in the future. If we could guarantee a loving, forever lasting home, then we would do it.

Even having a registered foal doesn't guarantee anything, but if people are willing to pay decent money for a horse, they will usually take good care of it. If we can sell a couple of foals a year, that will pay for the feed bill.

I don't have any good pictures of Billie, just a few I took during the ice storm we had this past winter. When he sheds out and is cleaned up, I will try to get a better picture.



Our broodmares can do double duty. Not only can they produce nice foals that we can sell, but we can use them as lesson horses when we get set up in the future. That way, they are contributing to their upkeep by giving kids a chance to learn to ride and care for horses.

Our two ankle biting dogs are getting along great. For any new readers out there, Booker is a Chiweenie, a cross between a chihuahua and a dachshund. I found him sitting on the side of the highway last winter. He was about 5 weeks old and just about frozen to death. Sadie looks to be a Jack Russell cross and is approximately 5 months old. My sister found her wandering in the middle of the road, cars swerving to miss hitting her. She was skinny and full of ticks. I bet we picked over 100 ticks off of her. She was anemic from the blood loss due to the ticks feasting on her.



On the human front, everyone is doing ok. My sister made her last trip to St. Louis for her chemo treatment. She has to go back in a month for some test, and is hoping that everything will look good.

David is enjoying having Ricky here with us. Just not having to worry about him is somewhat of a relief. We went 5 months without hearing from him and having no way to contact him, and David was really concerned.

Ricky has an appointment tomorrow with the Missouri Job Corp and is hoping to get accepted. It's only about an hour away and they offer so much to those who qualify for their program. If Ricky can get in, he will live on campus, get paid a stipend every two weeks, have all medical, dental and vision care taken care of, get his high school diploma and also get to pick a trade to go into. They offer all sorts of job training from large equipment handling to landscaping, electronics, welding.... etc.

Once a student graduates, they help with your first job placement. Ricky is really excited and anxious to get to the interview tomorrow.

My son Richard, will be operated on May 12th for his esophageal cancer. I will be flying up to Washington on the 19th to be there when he comes home, to help Lindsey take care of him, the baby and the house. I will be back home on June 4th. He finished all his chemo and radiation and the doctor thinks everything will be great. The only thing they are worried about is that one of his lymph nodes in his neck is swollen and they will do a biopsy on it when they operate.

I told Richard that he has always had a swollen lymph node in his neck, ever since he was a baby. The doctors were never concerned with it and said it was just plugged and would never bother him. Hopefully, this is what these doctors are seeing, and it will be nothing at all.

My mom will be 91 on May 15th. She is doing good, in fact she is doing better now since her doctor put her on some medication for people who suffer from Alzheimer's. It was getting to where she couldn't communicate. She knew what she wanted to say, but when she went to say it, she either forgot or she couldn't get the right words to come out. She has been on this medication for a month, and now can express her words again. She still forgets a lot, but at least she can speak what she thinks.

I had a scary moment last week. I take these muscle relaxers for my Fibro and PMR. If I don't take them, then I get these crazy muscle cramps all over. Well, sometimes these relaxers also relax my dang brain.

We all went into the Bluff last week. My sister, myself and David. We had to do some running around and then we stopped at Taco Bell for a snack before heading home. When my sister dropped us off, we unpacked our groceries and other bags and she left to go home. The next morning she headed up to St. Louis for her chemo treatment.

Later that next day, I went to look for my purse. David had gotten paid, and one of the errands we had done the day before was collect his paycheck. He cashed it right at Wal-Mart and then gave me the money to put in my purse. I looked around the house and then I panicked. I couldn't find my purse.

The last thing I remembered was when we sat down at Taco Bell, I put the purse in the empty seat next to me, reminding myself to not forget to get it when we left. I couldn't remember anything after that. I didn't know if I had left it at Taco Bell, or if it was in my sister's truck.

I was 80% it was probably in my sister's truck, up in St. Louis at the moment. But there was a nagging feeling in the back of my head that I may have just left it at Taco Bell. I have never, ever, left my purse somewhere before, and couldn't really believe that I would have walked out of TB with out it. I called TB just to see if by chance, they have found it. They had not seen it.

My sister wasn't expected home until around 8 that evening. I was over at her house watching my mom while she was gone. I prayed that my purse was in the backseat of her truck. All of our money was in it. If it wasn't, I wasn't sure what we were going to do. We had bills to pay and food to buy and two weeks to go before the next paycheck.

I finally heard my sister drive up, and I tentatively stepped outside and asked her if she would look to see if my purse was back there. Such a wave of relief flooded over me when she said "YES".

Oh thank you God !!!

I called David and told him immediately that I had my purse. WHEW..... I have never fretted so much in my life.

I will never let that purse out of my site again !!!

Well, Ricky is outside setting fence post and I need to go help him.

Y'all take care !






 

I just want to say Thank You to the person who extended my membership. With everything that has been happening lately, I just didn't know if I would have the time to write or not. Plus we just didn't have the extra funds to put out for a renewal.

I really appreciate the extension and will make a conscientious effort to get in here and write. I will also take the time to leave comments also.

Thank you again, whoever you are for the renewal of my membership !!

Melinda
 

LORD DELIVER ME! If Tor doesn't get better soon I am either going to shoot him or buy him a carton of cigarettes....then make him sleep with the goats!!!
 

As most of you know, David and I had the great opportunity to visit with Erik and Debi last week. Oh what a wonderful visit it was. Erik and Debi are two of the most beautiful, gracious people I have met. Not only did they open their home to us, they opened their hearts also. Even thought we were only there for two and a half days, they were packed full of southern hospitality and fun.

Since our plane was leaving out of Memphis at 6:30 in the morning, on our day of departure to Philadelphia, we drove down the day before and spent the night at a motel near the airport. There was a Catfish restaurant across the street from the motel, so we headed over there to eat. The catfish was pretty good, but the hush puppies were to die for. I am not a big fan of hush puppies, but these were delectable with just the right touch of sweetness, and real crunchy on the outside and tender and moist on the inside.

We were up bright and early to catch the shuttle ride to the airport and had a wonderful flight to Atlanta. We had about a 55 minute layover in Atlanta, plenty of time to catch out next flight out to Philadelphia... right? NOT ! When we landed, we were told that there was no gate available for us and we had to wait for one to open... and we waited and waited and waited. Finally, after 30 minutes, the plane started rolling across the airport to an available gate, a full concourse away from the plane we had to catch !

Of course, we were at the end of the concourse and had to walk/run down the whole length of it to the escalator that led us downstairs to the train that would take us to the concourse we needed to be at. Off the train we jump and back up the escalator to find out that our plane was at the end of this concourse. We run/gallop full speed to our plane as they were just starting to close the doors.... WHEW, we made it.

We departed and had a wonderful flight to Philly and found Debi waiting for us down by the baggage department. We had a delightful ride home, stopping on the way to pick up Erik who had put in a few hours at work that morning.

That evening was full of conversations as we caught up on everything and everyone !! The four of us went out to eat, then stopped by the local market to pick up a brisket. David promised everyone that he would cook a brisket for them. In Texas, briskets run around .89 to $1.20 a pound, so a large 16 pound brisket is only $18 or so. Not in Pennsylvania... briskets were $4.89 a pound, so a small 8 pound brisket cost over $32.... WOWSERS !!!!!

After a night of much needed rest, Debi and I fixed a breakfast of bacon, pancakes and eggs. Debi's son Skyler and his girlfriend, Sarah were there and we all ate until we couldn't eat anymore.

Right after we got breakfast dishes cleared and cleaned, John (CC) drove up. The rest of the day was spent talking and laughing and having a great old time. David had put the brisket on to cook that morning around 8am. You could smell it's wonderful aroma drifting throughout the house all day long. Finally around 3pm, David pulled the brisket out of the oven and put it on the open fire in the grill. Debi and I made some beans and corn to go with it.

What a great time we had sitting around the table sharing this meal together. Erik said grace and brisket was passed from one to the other as we gabbed and laughed. After dinner was done, David, myself, Skyler and Sarah played a game of bowling of the Wii. Us gals skunked the guys big time. They had all kinds of excuses as to why they couldn't score as well as we did. Sarah and I just looked at each other and grinned as we threw strike after strike, spare after spare while they made splints and gutter balls.

After a while, we all had to say goodbye to CC. It was so good to see him again. He is another beautiful, down to earth guy who would just do anything for you. We sat around and watched a few movies and then headed for bed. The next day was our trip to Gettysburg.

On our way to Gettysburg, we passed through Lancaster, home of the Amish. They were out in force driving their horse drawn buggies down the road, clip-clopping right along with traffic. Even the local WalMart has a covered area to hitch horses to. We passed several farms where you could see someone out plowing their field with a hitch of 4 or 6 horses. It's beautiful land, gently rolling, laced with fences and large white homes and barnyards. The Amish are such a simple people, and so kind and forgiving. The young men are clean shaven, but once they marry, they must grow a beard. The women, in their plain and simple gray and black dresses are shy and quiet.

Gettysburg was wonderful. To look upon the fields were thousands of men died defending their beliefs is just sobering. I am so glad that Erik and Debi made this trip possible for us, and for David to make a long time dream come true.

Thank you Erik and Debi, for what you have done. It is a trip that will never be forgotten.

I will continue on with our trip home on another day.....

I FORGOT MY DANG CAMERA, OTHERWISE I WOULD HAVE PICTURES FOR YOU !