Frustration

It is beyond me that anyone can take a perfectly normal positive conversation and completely turn it around to make it negative. Long time...no blogging....but I just had to get that off my chest!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Shocked by the Clothesline!

I grew up in a large family...3 older brothers, 1 older sister and a younger sister. Barbara was 17 when I was born, Terry was 13, Larry 10 and Richie was 7. My family had endured lots of hardships before I came along. In fact, the week before I was born, the doctors at Warm Springs Gonzales had called my parents to come get my brother, Terry and bring him home. The news was...he would not walk again. You see, Terry had polio. He came down with it when he was only 8 years old and he had been in hospitals for five years. One day he was a healthy boy, running around the farm and the next day he was paralyzed. Terry almost died several times during his first few months with polio. It must have been a frightening time for my parents and my siblings. I can't even imagine! During this same time, my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and she had one breast removed. Children were shuffled to aunts' and uncles' homes and they were without parents and a brother. Through all of this, they survived. Mother lived for another 46 years and Terry lived for about 50 more years. And I had an extremely normal childhood...with the exception of a mother with only one breast and a brother who could not walk and who slept each night in an iron lung. Lots of pranks were pulled in our household....some quite funny...some quite dangerous!
One prank was pulled on me by my brother, Richie when I was only about seven. I was a small child. At age seven, I may have weighed about 40 lbs.....I was a "shrimp". I was a whiny shrimp at that. I never ate. Most of our family meals were devoted to trying to get me to eat so that I wouldn't "blow away" in the West Texas winds! This caused me to cry and my cries prompted my brothers to recite the old saying..."Nobody loves me, everybody hates me, I'm going out to eat worms!" More tears would follow until I was in a rage! On this particular summer morning, Richie had gone out in the backyard to bring some clothes in off the clothesline for Mother. In the process, the clothesline had shocked him.....You see, Terry was an avid Ham Radio operator and his radio antenna was attached to the clothesline poles. Evidently, something had happened and his antenna was not grounded properly. So, Richie thought it would be funny for the "shrimp" to get shocked!
I ran to the backyard to fetch the clothes....I was so small that I barely even reached the clothesline. So I tiptoed and stretched to reach the clothespins, but once I did, the electricity caused me to grab the line. My other hand shot up to pull my other hand away and both hands were glued fast to the line. Electricity was flowing through all 40 pounds of my skinny little body! Richie was watching out the bedroom window....hoping to see something funny...only to see his little sister shaking and screaming! I could feel my toes digging into the soft damp ground...I knew I would soon dig to China if someone didn't save me! Richie ran from the house and jumped off the ground to tackle me. We landed on the ground....I was lifeless. I couldn't move at all. He carried me as I screamed and wailed into the house where Mother promptly lay me on her bed and began to put clean clothes on me...(including clean panties...Heaven forbid I go to the hospital without clean panties!). My fear was that I would be like Terry...confined to a wheelchair the rest of my life! However, by the time I got to the hospital, I was moving my arms and my legs.....Luckily there were no burns on my hands....just a scared little girl and a scared and very sorry big brother! Daddy quickly grounded the antenna, but it took me years to be brave enough to touch that clothesline again. It was....just a prank....and we lived through it...giving us another story to tell as we grew older! I still tend to avoid clotheslines..........

The Last Ft. Worth Stock Show

We braved the icy conditions of the roads Friday morning to venture out to the Ft. Worth Stock Show. I worried that we wouldn't make it. It began snowing about 8:30 on Thursday night. We had made taco soup and invited Jenifer, Colton and Tracey over for a hot bowl to warm us up and some buttermilk pie to fatten us up. I love my Crossfire buddies....I would have loved for all of them to have come over...we always have such a good time! Anyway, Tracey slipped on my front steps as she left and she ended up getting SIX staples in the back of her head....I felt so bad even though I (I'm ashamed to say....) LMAO when she fell! So...after the fall from the ice and snow, I was worried that we wouldn't make it to the stock show. However, Donald heated up the pick-up at 5:00 a.m. on Friday morning and we began our adventure in the ice and snow. Lauren had even sent me a message on Facebook and gave me a thumbs up on the roads (thanks!). He put it in four wheel drive and we headed up north on the icy roads! Luckily the roads had enough snow on them for some traction. We seemed to be the only ones on the road until we got to Weatherford and just like magic...there were more cars/trucks on the interstate. The snow fell on us all the way to Ft. Worth. We made it and hurried through the mud and slush and ice into the cold, smelly barns to find Dillan. He was just coming into the show ring when we got there....Those judges don't mess around...if they like your steer, they send you to the middle....if not, they send you out the door and unfortunately, Dillan was sent out the door! Donald and I browsed in the exhibit hall where I found a concho belt and some delicious dips. We also chowed down on some stew in a bread bowl, giant baked potato and a delicious, famous Ft. Worth Stock Show cinnamon roll! Kevin, Cari and Tristin had made the trip up, and they bought Tristin a cowboy hat. Dillan did NOT ask for money to buy fake cigarettes or sand art this year!!!! I guess that's one of the good things about being the parent of a senior!!!! It is a little bittersweet.....our last big show at Ft. Worth for Dillan. However...there are the grand kids and Denver will be old enough to show next year. I only thought I was through with the stock shows! I guess there will be more early morning trips....more smelly barns....more muddy boots....more cinnamon rolls....more good time and good memories!!!!