Nana's New Pride & Joy

When I was younger I remember my parents saying they had a picture of their "Pride and Joy." I think they pulled the same trick on my brother and sister also. Here's their picture on the left.

I thought that was shocking. So I have been hestitant to ever use the words "pride and joy."

But I wanted to add a picture of Nana with her new Pride and Joy = Madison. We are very happy about our first granddaughter and looking forward to more time with her.

Here's Nana with her at about a week old. As you can see, Nana is gleaming and beaming. She just given little Madison a bath. Notice: No Tears! Nana had fun with everything she did with Madison.

Green Bay, WI

Well, after a long day of travel, here I am in Green Bay, at a cool 70 degrees (their high is colder than our low), close to the oldest continuously operating pro football Stadium. Yes "City Stadium", built in 1957, became "Lambeau Field" after Curly Lambeau died in 1965. It is so green up here since they've had a lot of rain. I have three days of training up here and go home on Friday (Green Bay to Cleveland to Houston to College Station -- only a 9 hour trip).

I met Nana at Love Field on July 15 and we drove home that night. She's missed her little Caleb and Madison ever since, so we'll have to go see them soon. Nana and I had to do a lot of watering during the past two weeks. We've watered every day since. The okra is starting to produce, while the squash is dying down.

Nana had a copperhead slither away just inches away a couple nights ago while we were unloading the mushroom mulch off the trailer. We now have a huge pile of mulch for the garden and other endeavors. I planted tomato seed from a rotten tomato in one of my old "coolers." Now I have a couple hundred "Early Girls" coming up to plant in August for this fall. I'll give away plants to whomever wants some.

Nana has been cleaning up the house. We never caught up from the last trailor load of her mom's stuff in May. Nana also wants to do a little painting in the next couple weeks.

Making Jam

I picked about two gallons of figs today. That's more than we've ever picked here. Since I can't eat that many and Nana's not going to be back until Wednesday, I'm going to try making one of my favorite jams - Strawberry-Fig Jam.

Speaking of "jamming," I have my first conference call with trainers in Indonesia, Singapore, and the Philippines on Monday morning at 7-9 am (7-9 pm their time). So I've been studying "Creating Team Synergy," the program I'm teaching them to deliver. I'm making ideas jell on that also. I have about 30 phone calls with them over the next year, so I want the first one to make a great first impression.

Baby Madison's Arrival

The second half of June flew by. Nana and I worked hard to get ready to leave for Jimmy & Ashley's on June 23. Then we waited until Wednesday afternoon when Madison arrived. What a joyous time! Everyone there was so excited and happy to see Jimmy bring that healthy granddaughter out of the operation room and to the hospital nursery. We could tell immediately that she was doing great. And Ashley's recovery has been going well also.

I drove up to my 45th high school reunion June 28. It was so great to see all the friends I had at ole' Triad High. It was hard to get around and chat with everyone who was there, but great to see them. I'm now looking forward to the 50th.

I finished the 2000 mile road trip with a fast (but 32 mpg average) drive home July 3. It was great to see the dogs, cat, and garden again, but the 400 lb. black hog in the road sure surprised me. I was driving out into the field on the golf cart last night and startled two does about 100 feet away in the field. Instead of immediately running off, they stood still and looked at me for over a minute. And today I went down to the orchard to pick figs before the birds pecked them all. As I was picking, a male & female Cardinal dive bombed me to try to drive me away from their lunch. Sorry high flyers, I'm taking 'em all. Then Flash uncovered a rabbit in the field, and the barking chaos of the hunt ensued. And when I got back home, I saw another Whistling Duck fly up into the trees. I love nature.

Fun with Donovan

It's been so much fun having Donovan with us for 12 days! He is such an amazing boy. We worked on a puzzle, played Clue, did the "magic dice" trick, practiced telling jokes, saw the baby donkeys, saw the littlest baby deer I've ever seen, watered trees & garden, mowed grass with Nana, played games on "pianoladynancy.com," ran "quick as a flash," transported the ducks to their babysitters, fed the fish, played dominos, feed the donkeys, drove the golfcart & tractor with me, picked blackberries & raspberries, and had "sayings" that Nana and I have to write down! I can't believe how amazing he is. We love having him come so much so that after he left Nana said, "I get up looking for him -- I miss him."

As some of you heard, I passed out at church one week ago. During my short hospital stay we checked out all kinds of possibilities. Apparently my dosage on the beta-blocking blood pressure medicene was too high and my pressure dropped too low. I'm feeling much better now. Thanks for all the phone calls and best wishes.

I'm in Secaucus again tonight and tomorrow. After a 2-hour hot wait at Avis, I got here too late to visit with Jason. Then I'll be in Philly Tuesday & Wednesday. We leave for Ashley's next Monday, June 23 for the birth of Madison on June 25. Nana and I are so excited about being there with them.

We'll be thinking of Alexa and Aaron as they leave for Colorado next Friday. Moving is such an emotional roller coaster. I've never had an easy one.

Nana and I pray for each of our kids every night.

Snakes Alive!

Well, Nana and I were glad to hear that her biopsy was not cancerous. We were both very worried, so we were very happy with the good news.

Last Thursday night, I was putting water in the cattle tank when I saw a 6 ft. long rat snake (aka "chicken snake" as they eat eggs) crawling through the grass toward a big oak tree. He crawled right up that tree -- about 25 feet up to a limb. Nana had joined me about that time and was also shocked. He crawled out onto a limb into a hole. Out came two snakes all twisted up. He had found a female and they were mating at about 30 feet up in the air. I thought they were going to fall out of the tree at any minute. Kathy ran into the house to get a camera, but we can't email you the snake porn. After about 15 minutes, the one who had been in the hole, crawled back in (probably up there to lay her eggs).

The next day there was a squirrel out on that limb watching that hole most of the day. I couldn't help but think that that female rat snake loved baby squirrels also. We've been seeing those 6 ft. snakes for awhile -- I think they are getting some of the duck eggs, so staying around for more.

Buster, our tough cat, had been constipated for about a week. We took him into the vet yesterday, only to discover that he had rectal cancer which kept the muscles from working. So he had to be put to sleep. Nana and I had quite a cry over that, but buried him in a beautiful spot overlooking the lake. We both remembered him climbing trees when Fudge chased him or putting his head into Bear's mouth -- we laughed again.

I remember when Alexa's "White" kitty was killed by a bobcat and when the boys' "Black" kitty (with one eye left) was run over by a car. Those where also sad days, but today has been tougher.

Well Alexa and Donovan arrive tomorrow. Alexa will stay until Saturday and Donovan until June 16. We're going to have fun.

Busy as a Beaver

Well, Alexa's graduation went fantastic. We had a great trip up there -- staying with Ashley & Jimmy on the way up. Alexa's party was also fun -- probably the last party at the park. Aaron bought Alexa a beautiful necklace as a graduation gift. Then we went with Dale & Janis back to Ashley's for her baby shower on May 17. Dale & Janis then followed us through the back roads of Arkansas, Oklahoma, & Texas to get to our place on Monday, the 18th. These four old folks were pretty achy by the time we arrived home 10 hours later. I wish we all lived closer together.

Well, Dale caught a couple bass at about 2 pounds, but I saw his huge one get away. Nana did fry fish for us one day -- she does the best at it. But Dale was having too much fun to just fish -- changing a flat tire in the 95 degree heat, cutting trees and brush for a burn pile, and working on fixing things around this place. Janis went nuts sorting cards for us. We now have them organized.

Janis won the Pegs and Jokers game we played one night. The last night they were here, as we were playing Mexican train, Dale stomped all of us with a score of about 28 while the rest of us were close to 200 points. He went out every time but once. Nana and I had a lot of fun with Dale and Janis visiting for the week.

We got a "pod" (a cargo container 20 feet long) to put Nana's mom's stuff in. Then last Saturday and on Memorial Day we carried trailer loads of "stuff" and put it in the pod.

Nana was mowing Memorial Day evening when she yelled "snake" at me. I "ran" (as fast as my sore muscles would move) to get the gun. We thought it was a huge water Moccasin and kept the dogs away from it, but after I shot it, I saw it was just a chicken snake.

Nana's breast biopsy surgery this morning went well. She's taking it very slow today. We find out Friday afternoon whether it was just calcium deposits or possibly cancerous. I've been praying that it's just calcium. More later on that.

We go to Nana's Johnson reunion this coming weekend.