Comments to Comments

"The" bangs. When I got older and looked back at my photos, I once asked Mama why my bangs were so short. She said she didn't have to cut them as often when she cut them short. Okay...saved her time...made me look like a dork. At least everyone knows it was her fault at that time in my life and not mine.


You didn't see any high school photos of me did ya? I started gaining weight and wasn't happy with how I looked or me. High school was not the best time of my life. Nothing bad or drastic happened. I hate for this to sound like a cliche' but I just didn't know who I was. I wouldn't go back to that age or time in my life for no amount of money! The only thing that kept me in school my senior year is because I intended to go off to college. Instead...I got married. But I have my high school diploma and in 1996 got a 2-year degree from the local community college.


"Cheekbones"...This photo is from 1979. I'm supposed to have some Cherokee in me. Daddy's mama always said that her grandmother (my great great grandmother) was full blood Cherokee. We have no photos of her. Her marriage to my great great grandfather was her second and all we have is her first married name...no maiden name. She was from Pauls Valley Oklahoma. One day I'll get back in the genealogy and look again.

"Chantilly Lace"...Jonathan, my son, and I sang in the car while running errands. This was one of his favorites. One time he was with Mama. She said when they got back to the Daingerfield city limits he started singing... Dain...ger...field... nananana... Dain...ger...field ...to the tune of some song about Hollywood. What can I say? It helped to pass the time, especially when he needed a potty break and there was no place to stop. We would Sing...sing a song...sing out loud...sing out long...Don't worry if it's not good enough for anyone else to hear...Just sing...sing a song...

"Cars"...Daddy was a caraholic. For a while there when he had three little kids at home and was gone on the truck all the time to feed those babies, he traded cars every year. Mama was pretty meek and mild back in those days (somewhere along the way she developed some teeth and put her foot down). She especially remembers bringing a new baby home...to find a new car in the driveway. Maybe that's why they only had three with a ten year gap before the fourth one. ;o)

"Chubba"...yeppers. Mama had 10 + pound babies. Junior was the only one who slimmed up...rather down. I was put on skim milk at 9 months old...bottle baby. I did outgrow the baby fat but...as I mentioned above was a heavy teenager. When Sam and I got married 12 years ago, I told him that I'd been fat all my life until my skinny young adult years. We were watching home videos taken by Daddy with an 8mm no talky camera. Sam looked at me..."I thought you said you were fat all your life." I guess those teenage years really drug me down. That and Daddy called me Crisco. Really a self-image booster.

"Horse in socks"...LOL At least Joey didn't put rocks in her plumbing! When you have horses, you are constantly messing with their hooves so that they don't jerk around when you are handling them. Makes it especially tough on the farrier when it's time for new shoes...with nails to secure them to the hoof. A jerky horse can cause severe damage to a careless farrier. Nearly every time we were out in the pasture to feed or pet or whatever, I carried a hoof pick in my pocket...picked up their feet and cleaned them up. My horse any way. At the time of this photo we were all grown and gone except Joey...I think that all of us had horses at our houses.

Junior was into competition. He had a horse that was great at keyhole. (A large-size keyhole was drawn in the dirt just inside the opening to the arena. At the go sound, you ran your horse in the middle of the circle, did a 360 turn and ran out again...without messing up the outline.) Billy and I weren't interested in competing and didn't have horses at that time. When we married and left home we eventually all got just riding horses. Photo on the right is Joey on Junior's horse, Wrangler. Junior had a crazy horse before this one...I think before. His name was Lobo...but it should've been Loco. I may have mentioned him before. We were told in no uncertain terms to stay off him and away from him. Junior took care of him...period. One day while everyone was gone, I caught Lobo and rode him. I got caught taking the saddle off. Junior caught me. He thought I was putting the saddle ON. When I told him I had just gotten back from riding, he looked so funny.

Joey had a HIGH powered horse. ran barrels, poles, and other events. Joey on Star. I think this was his third horse. Pepper, then Dottie, then Star...I don't remember another in there. Star drank cokes straight from the bottle. He kicked Mama's Oldsmobile 88 in one of the doors. She put the bathroom plunger to it and pulled the dent out. Star loved pole bending...a row of poles set a certain distance apart. You weaved in and out on the way to the end, then turned around and ran like the devil was after you. Star would swish his tail in circles...and knock a pole down. Joey had to tie it up and wrap it with ponytail bands. LOL...For girl's/women's hair.

"ALS"...Horrible disease. Daddy's was an isolated case in our family. Sometimes it can be familial. That would be devastating. I don't understand why families that have something like that running through it for generations continue to have children.

Parents

Daddy's family was pretty close to being dirt poor. We have very few photos of him. Even though Mama's family was just poor folks, they took photos.

Would you ever think from looking at this baby that she was so puny when she was born that the doctor laid her across a trunk in my grandparent's bedroom?! My great grandmother walked in the room and wanted to know why that baby was laying there. The doctor replied, "She's going to die." Mama's grandmother took her, cleaned her up. I think it's fairly obvious that she didn't die.

She snuck out of the house with a coat on. This photo was taken by a pond on my grandfather's property between DeKalb and New Boston Texas. She said he'd'a skinned her alive if he caught her doing this!

She had just turned 16 and Daddy nearly 20 when they married. The story he told her was if she didn't marry him he was going to enlist and go to Korea. She fell for it. ;o)
Daddy worked for Lone Star Boat Company in Grand Prairie. He and one of his best friends received their first million mile award working for them. They hauled boats from coast to coast. When we moved to Daingerfield, Daddy brought his personal boat with him. We still had it when Joey was little. The boat was deep enough that Joey couldn't fall overboard. Eventually, Daddy sold the boat. A couple of years ago, Joey was doing some mechanic-type work for the local scrap yard and found the boat. He's a "collector" ;o) and it is at his house now.
Photo from the old Polaroid Land Camera.

Mama's horse, Missy. Mama has had bad knees since forever. When she would get ready to climb on, she would tap Missy's front hoof, then rear hoof. Missy would spraddle out and get lower to the ground making it easier for Mama to mount. LOOK at Missy's hooves. Joey put socks on her. I forgot that! See the stripes?!

Getting ready to do what they loved best for several years. Launching their flat-bottom boat in the White River north of Mt. View Arkansas to trout fish.

August 2000...Daddy died the last of October 2000. He had been diagnosed with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis - aka Lou Gehrig's disease - one of those diseases that affects so 'few' that major funding for research is not available) the first week of July 2000. He was still driving his truck and had to park it. He couldn't explain away his symptoms and kept them hidden from Mama. The beginning was evidently when he had trouble swallowing as early as 1996. Doctor's found an esophageal pouch...a previously undetected birth defect...so the swallowing problem was attributed to that. Since there's no known reason or cure for ALS (which is included in the Muscular Dystrophy family), we were so thankful that he didn't receive the diagnosis and death sentence any earlier...

Mama...I'm shaking my head...we figured she would be the first. She has had triple bypass surgery, at least one stroke, numerous TIAs, degenerative disc disease, hip replacement, three back surgeries with the last a fusing of four verterbrae in her lower back. And thank God, she's like the Energizer bunny...

I Wanna Talk About Me!

***Can't imbed the song so you'll have to click to hear it...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYrlzEUuBIM&feature=PlayList&p=13AA9B7F2B4D6699&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=19

I thought about dedicating a post to each brother. Then thought. Nah! This is my blog. It's about ME. They can always start their own blog.

Here we ALL are.

Not many photos of all four of us after the brat was born. ;o) It may be obvious why from these two photos.

Before brat ... okay. His name is Joey. With cousins. Jerry, BJ, Junior, me, Harry Wayne, James.

Just us three.

oooh

Three.

Billy, Harry Wayne cousin like a brother, Junior., me.


A favorite of mine. Harry hugging Junior and me.


Oops!

I loved my babies. And I have on cowgirl boots too!

Billy in the car reminds me! We lived on NW 22nd Street in Grand Prairie. A dead end road on the last street in the new addition. No house directly across the street from us, but there was a pond. (Not so now! Houses upon houses, convenience store selling beer on the corner! Things do change!!) A kid like Eddie Haskel on Leave it to Beaver lived on our street. Nobody believed him. He came running in the house yelling something about Billy driving the car across the street and was going straight for the pond. Mama rolled her eyes and went to the front door to look outside. She got into high gear when she saw the car rolling backwards. Billy had climbed into it and knocked it out of gear (standard). It slowed down when it hit the curb and she was able to jump in and stop it. He was older than this, but...under six years old!

The big boy is Harry Wayne. Poor Junior is crying. Mama said the photographer said something about sit still while "I shoot" you.

Elementary School

Seventh grade - Junior High

5th Grade - Elementary 4th Grade - Elementary3rd Grade, Wylie

3rd Grade - Elementary - (We moved at mid-term so I have two 3rd grade pictures.)Not a school photo...but you can see why it's one of my favorites!2nd Grade - Sam Houston - Grand Prairie Texas (I bought the dress, some socks and panties with my birthday money. I remember being so proud!)

1st Grade - Sam Houston - Grand Prairie Texas