Welcome.....
To my world of the weird, the strange, the unexplained.........
no, I'm just kidding, this is a happy place......OK, maybe I am just a little weird.
Did you know that chickens like Twinkies? No, really, did you?
Today was 98 degrees (in the shade, people!). Bill sold lemon shake ups in the town square.......ok, it was really at the Sonoco Station....he made $120.00, just selling lemonade. He had a great time, but got REALLY too hot. Anyway, he came home and we had a beer outside under the trees by the chicken pen, so we let them out to run....oh, but before that happened........I felt sorry for them, so I turned on the water hose and sprayed it up into the air so that it would land on the ground like rain......boy, did they scatter....lol!...I got the rooster pretty good though, his tail feathers were dragging....ok...back to story......so, we are sharing a beer under the trees and I was eating a twinkie. The chickens heard the paper wrattling when I unwrapped it, so they were right at my feet! I threw out a couple of pieces and they gobbled it up...it was funny seeing their beaks with the fluffy white stuff on them, soon they all ran for the water bowl, guess it's kind of hard to eat twinkies when you dont have any teeth...........Blondie was eye-balling my toes....I guess she thought they were worms....Bill was encouraging her to peck me...but she never did!
Today was a very sad day. My cousin, Rob Westman, passed away from an over dose of pain medication. He was a really nice guy , always friendy and interesting to talk with. Had it not been for a fall from a ladder, his life would have been completely different. It is the saddest thing. We all start out so hopeful in life, but we never know where we are going to end up. Sometimes we have no control over the things that make our life take a different turn. Sometimes we do.
I won't go into the details here, but just wanted to remember him to anyone who reads this. The last time I sat and talked to him was back in March. It was a very nice visit with him and Uncle Bob and Aunt Betty. Mom and I took eggs over to them... It was a good day to remember. All of us visiting as a family.
Forrest Gump was right" Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get", Rob didn't know he was going to get dealt such a crappy hand in life. I hope he had SOME happiness before all of the pain took over.
ROB, you will be missed....sorry you felt you had to leave so soon.
I spent some time with mom today. We went to Walmart and then to Subway for lunch. I really miss our times together right now! We had a great time anyway, just always so quick. Winter's comin' mama!...Can't wait to do some scrapbooking!
Anyway, it is once again very hot and dry. The poor chickens are running around with their mouths open and their wings extended, poor things! Bill made them a birdie bath on the ground, but all they do is drink out of it, guess they don't have any swimming suits!
After I helped Mallory get everything going at the ice cream shoppe I came home and on a whim grabbed my camera and headed back to Alma. I hadn't been to the Hester Memorial Garden for quite a while, and with very little rain lately, I wanted to see if it was still full of flowers and it was.! I took a few pictures, but didn't stay too long...so hot! It still looked beautiful, but pretty parched. There were some new things added, like a chiming clock in the wall of the vault and a statue in the rose bushes.
It was a kind of mundane week, summer has set in, Tuesday was the longest day of the year (more day light hours etc), and it has been extremely HOT! It was 99 degrees today (and remember, that is always in the shade, people! When that weather man is giving us the weather, the temps are always measured in a shaded weather box, so along with bad predictions about the weather, they Lie to us about the temperatures too!
Anyway, about my title of this post. Back in the year 2001 Bill and I went to see Britney Spears in St. Louis at the Riverport. YES, Britney Spears! Remember, when she was just staring out and was doing a fine job? ...... So we had to have some I.D. with us, and I took my driver's license. Well, I got to looking at it and realized I hadn't had that color of hair for years..lol! Come to find out my license had expired TWO years previous, which means I had been driving for two years without a license! So, I went that next Monday and got them renewed. Fast forward to last Thursday......again...I was getting something out of my wallet and I just happened to look at the expiration date!!!!!!! Jan. 2005!!!. So, Friday, I get up early and get everything done and Bill takes me into Salem to the DMV...and the person is waiting on me and getting my money for a new license......when she looks at the back and there is a sticker that says the expiration date had been extended until the year 2009!.....Do I remember sending off for this sticker? She askes.......Would I be standing here like and idiot if I HAD ??? That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.
Michael Jackson was aquitted of all charges of child molestation and related charges today...Can you believe it???
In honor of this auspicious ocassion, I would like to present you with a little tongue in cheek video (pardon the pun). Click link below:
Michael, are you black or white?
Today was the scheduled Sweet Things picnic. And, of course, it rained and rained. It hadn't rained for a month, but on a day we NEEDED sunshine, there was none. The girls all arrived at 1:oo and we organized everything and everyone was aware fo where they were supposed to be and what they were to be doing. They posed for this picture right before we opened. They all looked so cute.
We opened to NO customers, but lots of rain...what a disappointment! Bill was there with the weenie wagon and we were also serving chicken dinners and giving away coupons and discounts, etc. Suddenly, the sun appeared and everything turned around. I was a happy camper, uh, er, a happy corndog lady...!
We advertised in the local newspaper, the Farina News, that if you wore your cowboy hat to the picnic you would get a coupon for free ice cream. We had several people wear their hats..these little guys looked to cute to pass up for a picture.
Suddenly our parking lot was buzzing with activity...we were swamped with customers and had lots of fun. I ran into the ice cream shoppe and snapped a quick picture while the girls were working, what a bunch of hams!
At the end of the day we were all exhausted, but happy. Many people won coupons and said they enjoyed our chicken dinners. There were so many customers wanting to sit outside that they used the bales of hay and both picnic tables.
I couldn't end this without this picture of the day.....our local newspapeer editor wore her DOG'S cowboy hat and even posed for this picture......she gets the award for "BEST OF SHOW"....I mean, best hat.....Shirley....what a hoot you are!
And, NOW they want to have a LUAU!!! (the girls)
Stay tuned
I didn't know it at the time, but Monday was to be the "Day of the skunk(s)"....It was a normal day with normal customers. Evening came and things got a little slow, so Rhiannon and I went outside and sat at the picnic tables to have a soda and relax a little. It was about dusk. Rhi was looking behind me towards Ted Rinkle's house. She said...:Look there are 2 baby skunks out in their yard. We kept watching and then there were 3. I went and told Ted and Joyce that they were proud parents of 3 baby skunks living under their front porch. Pretty soon, Ted came outside. I dont know what he thought he was going to do, but he kept picking up one of the skunks by it's tail and moving it away from the house. The other two ran back under his porch. The skunk became "pissed off" and began attacking Ted's shoe. Ted kicked at it a few times, and then he got sprayed. These little skunks were only about 8 inches 10 inches long (if that) and that included their tail. Soon, however, the entire neighborhood smelled like skunk! It's a little hard to sell ice cream to people when it smells like skunk! Thank goodness we only had about 15 minutes left til closing time. And, now you know the REST of the story.
It is Sunday once again, mostly the only day I have to catch up on things at home and in cyberspace. This week I had a surprise visitor......Danielle popped in at the ice cream shoppe with her neice and nephew. I was so happy to see her. I thought she was still in North Carolina, but was on leave and visiting her brother in St. Louis. We visited for a couple of hours. She looked great and seemed to be just fine. She is coming back in December to visit and to stay a few days with us. Danie, thanks so much for such a wonderful surprise, it just made my week!
Thursday mom and Elouise came to see me too. It has been kind of cool and cloudy this entire week, so things have been a little slower at the ice cream shoppe. It was nice to have time to visit, though. I miss mom though, just a few minutes of visiting each week. We will have to get reconnected this winter.
Darren's birthday was Friday, June 3rd. I talked to him for quite a while. He is doing fine and was hoping to have a nice birthday.....he was at work.....how fun can that be?
Bill has been working at the new flea market at Altamont. It has been a successful venture. I drove up there yesterday and surprised him. There was a pretty good sized crowd and he made alot of money. He was happy to see me. We don't have much time together right now, but are planning a nice vacation in November. I am sure I will be ready for one by then, after the events of the summer and especially Relleke pumpkin farm!
I tried to feed the chickens some oranges today. I even cut them up in little pieces. They just turned up their beeks at it..........I thought chickens liked fruit?.......Oh, yeah, George (rooster), DID eat some, but shook his head....ha ha....made me laugh.
Next Sunday is our big picnic at Sweet Things. I hope it doesn't rain.......but we will have it anyway. I think it will be fun, the girls are going to wear their cowboy hats, as we are having kind of a western theme. I like my poster I made for the ice cream shoppe and for the paper.....the link to the poster is at the end of this post.
Well, gotta get to the ice cream shoppe soon, I am putting in the BLUE ice cream. Always a fun flavor.
picnic poster
